Transition
by playwithfire97
Summary: 'Because you hurt me, Elena, and I'm done trying. I'm done with yours and Stefan's bullshit.' After Elena's transition, Damon refuses to interrupt her and Stefan's new life. But with her heightened emotions, she's begging for it more then ever. Things get even more muddled between them when Klaus returns - and Elena gives into his plans. After 3x22
1. Transition

**Transition **

'**Because you hurt me, Elena, and I'm done trying. I'm done with yours and Stefan's bullshit.' After Elena's transition, Damon refuses to interrupt her and Stefan's new life. But with her heightened emotions, she's begging for it more than ever. Set right after 3x22.**

…**First Vampire Diaries fan fic! Drop a line would you? I was SO sad about the finale. As awesome as it was, it left me super curious about how Damon would handle Elena's 4,568 attempt at rejection. Well, to me, I think he's had about enough. This fic will be a multi-chapter Delena centered deal. **

I had never felt pain like this before. Sure, there were a few close calls, but nothing, _nothing _could prepare a person for being stuck at the bottom of a lake, watching someone you love fade away...again.

My last memory is Stefan dragging Matt away from me. It's my own fault, really, I wouldn't let Stefan take me first. All I could think of in that moment was the act of selflessness my father had done for me. Gesturing for Stefan two years before to save me. Not him. Me.

And so call it looking up to my father's prime example, but I felt no remorse at being left at the bottom of the lake, lungs bursting, fear racing through me so heavily that my heart felt as if it would pound it's way out of my chest. I deserved this.

Even so, I struggled feebly against the confines of my seat belt, already knowing I didn't have enough strength to swim after Stefan and Matt. The water was crushing me, and the harder I fought, the less noticeable my movements were.

There were so many things I had yet to do. So many things I should've said to people and countless scenarios that should have gone differently. Funny how when you die your mind narrows down to the one most important thing you could have done.

As the lights dim in my mind and the terror consumes me completely, reminding me that I'm about to die, and I'm letting so many people down, I can only think of one thing I truly regret.

I should have told Damon I loved him.

Air. All I can think is how much I need air. Greedy gulps make other sounds fade into the background as my hoarse, wet windpipe takes center stage.

"Elena!" I hear someone shout, both relieved and scared, off to my left. My head struggles feebly to look at the sound of the voice, but my head is so heavy...my limbs feel like logs...

I lick my lips, willing myself to get some sort of noise out of my chapped and scratched throat, and come out with a feeble whimper.

Great.

"Elena..." the voice soothes me, and my eyes shoot open. I know this voice. Stefan's voice.

The events of the night all come back to me, hitting me with loud sounds and emotions, every detail seems hemmed in and straightened out. Heightened. I feel a sharp pang shoot through me as I realize that I'm in fact _not _at the bottom of a lake, dead, but alive. Alive. For whatever reason, I'm alive.

And Stefan is here, and I hear voices outside, and it appears that I'm in a hospital bed. I feel the prickles of the coarse comforter and grimace. It feels woven and fake under my fingertips, but looks like the kind of comforter I would've thought as heavenly soft. It confuses me, and I glance at Stefan as if he somehow would have the answers to all these loud noises and sensations.

The look on his face is all I need for the pieces to fit together.

"Oh god." I croak, and then, because I'm already _healing_, I manage to say louder, "_NO._"

Stefan collapses in his chair, hands covering his face, running fingers through his hair. "Elena I am so, so sorry..." he begins to mutter, but I don't want to hear it. I don't want to focus on what's going to happen to me.

I'm in transition.

"Where's Matt?" I have the urge to leap out of the bed, to run out of the hospital and curl up somewhere to die alone. Everything I had decided with Stefan before I had died seems senseless now.

"Alive. Intensive care...but alive." Stefan raises his head from his hands and eyes me carefully. I squirm under his gaze. He's thinking about what we're both trying to not think about. What will happen to us, now that I'll be here literally...forever.

Unless, of course, I die again.

"Damon is on his way." Stefan murmurs quietly, and the words hang in the air.

I swallow morosely, feeling sick to my stomach. Damon.

"What are we going to do?" Stefan sighs heavily, reaching forward and clasping my pale, wet hand. I smile at his effort for teamwork. We. Us. Stefan and I. _And Damon_, a little voice in the back of me says, but I quiet it immediately. There is no way I can afford to go there anymore. I don't even deserve it.

"I...I should transition." I breathe in heavily and shakily, gripping his hand tightly, searching for that familiar feeling of anchor I always have when I'm with Stefan.

"Elena," Stefan's eyes are on me and his cold, dead heart is beating as fast as it can manage, his hands are warm against mine and he keeps saying my name and I _hate it. _I hate all of it and I don't know why. "You don't have to. I would understand..." Stefan trails off, because what he's saying isn't entirely true. He wouldn't understand why I'd choose to leave him.

"No, Stefan," I shake my head, "I have to. I can't leave."

"You don't know what it's like...what you're saying..."

I hate his words of doubt and I shake his hands off angrily, shaking my head even more violently than before, "No I know exactly what I'm saying. This would have had to happen eventually anyway, right?"

Stefan's face falls, and he flicks his eyes up to mine, holding his stare. "Right." He agrees.

It's obvious he hadn't planned for this.

I fall back on the bed, dizzy, nervous, sick. I'm hungry, but not craving blood. Not yet.

There's a moment of silence between us that's almost surreal and peaceful. We sit there, quietly, deep in thought, deep in despair. I want to cry. I want to laugh. I want to punch something. All sorts of emotions are buzzing through me and it's the best I can do to lock myself down and refuse to move.

The hospital room door flies open and hits the wall hard, swinging back and clicking into place almost as soon as it had opened. The noise is loud, startling Stefan and I, causing him to stand and for me to bolt upright. Damon is in the room, eyes flashing, hands clenched, rage written all across his face.

I expect him to sweep his eyes over me, for his expression to soften, but instead, he goes right for Stefan.

"Do you know what you've _done_?" He's like a mad man, zipping towards Stefan at the vampire speed I may soon have, gripping his neck and slamming him against the wall. Not caring who hears. Who sees.

Stefan grapples for dominance, kicking at Damon, trying to speak rational words at the same time. There's someone screaming, "no!" and I'm positive it's me. I'm out of the bed and tugging at Damon weakly, but one of his arms flies out, and I'm careening back into the hospital bed, stumbling for balance.

"Why didn't you save her?" Damon flips Stefan around so he's on the opposite wall, pinned beneath him.

"She wanted..." Stefan chokes, Damon's hands deadly tight, "wanted Matt..."

Everything in Damon's voice drips with disgust. He's repelled. My eyes sting with tears because this is not how I was supposed to see Damon after everything. Stefan shouldn't be on the brink of suffocating by Damon's rage filled hands. I should be up there, stopping him, soothing him with words I don't intend at all just so that I can save Stefan. But instead, I stay where I fell, knowing that this is Salvatore to Salvatore, and getting in the way could very well kill me right here, right now.

"And so you listened to her," Damon drops his hold on Stefan, causing Stefan to sink to the floor, holding his neck. I hear the cricks of his bones knitting themselves back together. Damon leans down, eye level to Stefan, blue eyes filled with nameless emotion, "You don't deserve shit." He spits, sitting up, kicking Stefan for good measure.

As Damon backs up, making his way out of the room, I shift uncomfortably on my knees, and he pauses, catching the noise.

His head turns and for a second I hope, I allow my self to believe, that the look on his face will be like all the other times he's looked at me. Full of devotion and love and innumerable amounts of _forgiveness_ in his eyes. Of course the look is always carefully guarded, masked, but I've learned to look through it. I've learned to crave it like I crave Stefan's safety.

Instead I'm met with equal rage, hurt, loss, pain. Damon's teeth are clenched, making his jaw prominent. He stares at me for just a second - and he's not breathing, not breathing at all - before ripping his gaze away and disappearing as quickly as he had come.

I'm left there knowing I'm all out of second chances. The thought of transitioning is even tougher now, a thousand years without Damon is something I'm not sure I can do - seventy years with Stefan as a human? Or for however long he decides to stick around? Much more doable. Normal. Safe.

I breathe in deeply, willing myself to forget about the odds that are stacking up against me. Willing myself to bite into a warm, human neck and...

But no, the thought is still repulsive. Perhaps it always will be with me.

I hear Stefan make his way to my side, grasping my arms and stroking his thumbs down the length of my hand. "Hey," he whispers, "You okay?"

No. I'm not okay. There's a million things that are wrong right now. But because I'm Elena, and I'm the good girl, and because Stefan needs me to be the anchor just as much as I need him, I nod. "Yeah but I think Damon isn't." I smile at my weak attempt at a joke.

Stefan's eyes are clouded, "He'll be okay. He always is. Right now, I need you to feed. We have to leave the hospital before the doctors realize you've recovered too quickly..." Stefan chatters on about the plan-of-action and I nod complacently, only half listening.

My stomach feels strange and my gums ache. I know the time is coming. The make it or break it moment. God, I wish I could've had a day as a human to myself. To eat ice cream and lay out in the sun. But my emotions feel out of control, the room is buzzing with noises I would have never heard if I was still technically myself, and the longer I wait, the more my gums_ throb. _

I nod to Stefan, cutting off his stream of meaningless words. "Alright. Bring me a bag. A blood bag."

There's no turning back now.


	2. Switch

**WOW. I got the BEST reaction to my first chapter. I decided to put up the second chapter just to get the ball rolling. Don't expect such quick updates as this one! **

**PLEASE review. You know for all the cliche reasons. It makes me happy. It motivates me. You get cookies and hugs...etc.**

**Let's spread the love, mm? **

**And I present to you...*drumroll*...DAMON'S POV! **

I've been through this dance so many times before its lost its novelty. Save me _Damon_. Help me _Damon._ Don't leave me _Damon._ I don't know what I would do without you _Damon. _

Yeah, well, that's the biggest line of bull I've ever heard. And believe me, I've been around long enough to hear a_ lot_ of shit.

I'm exhausted - mentally and physically- and yet my mind is whirling. I feel my hands trembling faster then humanely possible and clench them into tight fists as I brush past doctors and nurses. I must look like a demon. A bat out of hell. Well fuck all of them.

I'm dying to turn around and grab something wooden, to run back into Elena's room with those shiny brass numbers 2-0-3 on the outside, and drive it into Stefan's sniveling, emotion-filled heart. Rot in _hell_, little brother.

Because he listened to Elena once again when it's so _obvious_ that she doesn't know what she wants. She doesn't get it. We do. And yet he goes to save Matt because Elena wanted him to. Like the little lapdog he is.

I don't know if I'm even going to forgive him for this, or her, for that matter, because by my count they've both done me wrong. I'm all out of second chances. I'm no Christian Forgiveness Club, I'm Damon fucking Salvatore. Or had they forgotten what I'm capable of? Swinging the hospital door open and striding into the crystal cool night air to clear my head only causes it to turn to more insane conclusions.

I love Elena so much it physically _hurts_. I hate her so much at the same time. I know what she's about to become - and even though I secretly hoped that one day she would change for me - that dream is over. Crushed. Like so many others over the course of this batshit cry fest of a night. Now she's going to have forever to hate me and cast me _'fuck me' _pity looks and forever to make love to Stefan and ride off into the sunset.

It's all too much and before I know it, I'm in the creepy woods our gang so loves to romp around in, staring at all the trees around me. All the pointy little branches that I should _end _myself with.

Because who'll miss me, really? Caroline is bound to set up some sort of plastic support group for the damage done tonight - and hell, I can see myself now, sobbing grossly into Caroline's shirt. I know myself well enough to realize I'd be a goner the minute Elena's name is brought up.

Elena. She's dead, too, but in a different sense. She's me now. I am her. And Stefan. Always Stefan.

I'm pacing in circles practically foaming at the mouth with all the feelings I'm trying to choke down. I'd never counted on losing Elena forever, but isn't that what'd she said?

_'I care about you, Damon, which is why I have to let you go.'_

Fuck that. I snarl, gripping a tree branch and snapping it in half. She's never said she loved me. Never once.

And I was fool enough to believe that maybe - somehow - she did.

I need to feed. I need to drink. I need to get laid. I need Elena. I hate Elena. I hate Stefan. Stefan let me down.

Thoughts whirling, I collapse against a tree and stare into space like a drunk man. Hell, maybe I am drunk. Maybe this is one shit faced dream and I'm going to wake up -

No. Nope. Life's a bitch. I'm not going to wake up. Not ever.

I brace myself mentally for the next time I am going to face Elena, wishing that I had been the one to help her through the transition, with soft caresses and big plans. It's all been stolen from her now. She'll have little St. Steffie to hold her hand and show her how to drink blood. She'll have to watch as Stefan loses it over all the messy gore she'll be spilling during her first time and she'll have to watch as Stefan _kills _her first feeding victim. I know Elena. Elena wouldn't want for any of her victims to die. Not even as a vampire.

Stefan will try and teach her how to control her bloodlust by the bunny diet. Talk about the blind leading the blind.

I press my hands to my temples and try to get a grip at this newest reality. I told Stefan I would leave town - maybe I should. Could I really just leave? Forget about vampire Elena and Stefan?

Not without killing Meredith first. Bitch.

The question arises in my tired mind about who's blood Meredith gave Elena. I'd have to keep her alive and talking for that answer to come out. And what if the blood was mine? God, what then? To know that it was my blood flowing through her veins?

I know what then. I'd go insane. Right off the age. I'd stake Saint Stefan and I'd probably stake myself in the process. And then Elena would be left staring at the fuck-up of brotherhood carnage on the floor and left to finish herself off or live in eternity without us.

Eternity without us. Sounds nice. I raise my eyebrows as I muse the possibility of Stefan and I never existing.

I blame my parents for that one.

There is, however, a part of me that realizes I failed them in a sense. I'm forever failing. I left Elena when I promised I wouldn't, left her in the hands of Stefan and his Free-Will Brigade. Left her because I meant to save her. My mind flashes to all the previous times I'd fucked up with Elena and I come up with one memory in particular.

Carrying her out of the hospital bed. My finest moment. Feeling her soft skin under my arms and her trusting, chocolate eyes on mine as we casually swayed out of that place was the best thing that ever happened between us. Besides the kiss. The kisses.

I can't even afford to think about kissing Elena because I'm pretty sure I'd end up going out and killing a bus full of nuns, I'm that upset.

I take a deep breath that I don't even need, a sad attempt at clearing my head, and decide my plan of action.

I should go back and be there for Elena, but no, she has Stefan. I have to remind myself that Stefan is her savior now and I have no business lurking around like the third wheel I've become. Stefan can help her through this night - because as much as baby bro is clueless, I know he won't make the same mistake twice and let Elena do something stupid and selfless.

_Alright Elena, you wanted this._

I'm at the Mystic Falls bar in a blink, seated coolly in one of the seats, guzzling down drink after drink like the pathetic, sad little mess I am, compelling the bartender so I get them free of charge.

_Maybe if we had met first..._

She's a fool. We had met first. And now she'll remember. I cringe. I picture Elena all vamped out, cape of righteous independence flaring behind her, mad as all hell that I took her memories away. She'll remember the little confession I made, too.

God, how embarrassing.

I already know what will come out of her mouth after she's done being furious: '_Stefan wouldn't have done that._'

_Well, that's where you're wrong. Saint Stefan has never been put in precarious situations like unrequited love before. It's a very strange concept to him, Elena._

A pretty set of eyes catches mine at the other end of the bar and I smirk at them seductively. I set my drink down with a decided thud, walking up to the woman having eye-sex with me confidently. As if I'm not falling apart at the seams.

I strike up a flirtatious conversation_, _giving every impression that I'm enthralled by her boring-as-dish-water replies, never once giving it away that all I wanna do is use her. Drain her dry. Get on a high for five fucking minutes.

Just five minutes. Five minutes and then I'll go back to love-struck Damon Salvatore, the little boy who would do anything for a tragic, fickle dopplevamp.

As luck would have it, five minutes isn't enough. The night wears on, I get what I want, when I want, and suddenly, Elena isn't my problem anymore.

At least not for tonight, because I'm trying really hard to turn my emotions off.


	3. Phone Tag

**THANKS for all the story alerts, favorites, reviews etc. Keep em coming please! This is a two parter…Elena & Damon POV. I'm going with the theory that the switch is pretty much a lie, and Damon is failing epicly at it. ;) **

**ENJOY!**

xXx

"Elena, _please_." I hear Stefan's voice outside my bedroom door and curl up in my covers even more. "Let me in."

"No, Stefan, go away!" It's been a day since my transition and everything has been shot to hell. Not only is everything I'm experiencing overwhelming: the sounds, the scents, the noise, but every time I look in the mirror - every damn time - I know that the reflection will never change. I will never be any different.

"I know you're afraid and upset but if we could just talk -"

My bedroom is dark and musty from being closed up all day. I hate it. I hate being in the dark and being unable to go out into the sunlight. Bonnie's disappeared. No Bonnie. No daylight ring.

We all suspect she's taking a time-out from all of us. Stefan promised that if she didn't appear by the end of the next day, we'd take action.

"Stefan don't you understand?" I wipe the tears off of my face and ignore the way my gums are starting to throb all over again. I haven't fed since I transitioned. "We'll have forever to talk this through now!" I'm off the bed and pressed up against the door so that Stefan can hear me even better, "Just go spend time with someone else, and I'll see you tomorrow morning." and then because I can't take the sweetness of my girlfriend-tone, I throw my hands up in exasperation and add a, "_God! Go away!_"

This isn't like me at all. This isn't sweet, accepting Elena. I've changed so much since I transitioned, and the realization is heart breaking. When Meredith came in the room, pulling down the window blinds and handed me the blood bag, my hands had been shaking so badly I nearly dropped it.

But when I drank it, it tasted like life and all things good. I craved it. It wasn't hard to complete the transition after the very first drop left my lips.

And because of the blood, I've been different ever since. There's a side of me that wasn't there when I was merely human. I feel horrible for bringing it out on Stefan.

"Okay," Stefan soothes, "Okay I'm leaving, Elena, but I'll be back tomorrow. I.." he pauses and I cringe. I know what's coming next. "I love you."

"I love you too." I whisper, but it's barely audible.

As I hear Stefan's footsteps down my stairs, I sink down to my knees.

All my friends except Bonnie have seen me since I turned. Meredith calls every other hour to 'check up' on me. Caroline was supportive and understanding, although from what I gather, she'll have her hands full with Tyler, who's acting strange. At least he lived. Thank God. I don't think I can stand another person dying because of me. Matt is in intensive care still, and it was severe enough for his mom to come home. He'll be dealing with her. Jeremy is heartbroken but there for me. However, listening to Stefan shut the door and hearing no other sound in the house, it's clear he's not here for me right now. Most likely off moping with the other fallen comrades.

And Damon?

Damon is gone.

Damon can't be reached.

Nobody knows where Damon is and Stefan keeps reassuring everybody that he left because that was the agreement.

He says that with no small amount of guilt, I know, because although I have to stick by my choice, it may just be the hardest thing I've ever done.

After all, I remember. It's coming back to me in bits and pieces, but I remember...

_"I know Bonnie, you're right, you and my mom both are. I just...can't bring myself to tell him..." I walk alone away from the bonfire, away from people and out towards the dark road. "At least not tonight. I'll call you later." _

_I remember that phone call. I always have. It's what I remember after it that shocks me._

_"Katherine." I look up, seeing a stranger standing across from me. He's attractive, but I'm wary, like any good Sophomore girl would be._

_"Um no, I... I'm Elena." I cock my head, surprised._

_He looks crestfallen. "Oh, you...you just look.." We stare at eachother for a beat before he plunges onward, clearly not ready to leave. "I'm sorry you just really remind me of someone. I'm Damon."_

_And like the sassy Sophomore I am, I reply, "Not to be rude or anything Damon, but it's kinda creepy that you're out here in the middle of no where." _

_"You're one to talk. You're out here all by yourself." Damon smiles at me non-threateningly. _

_"It's mystic falls, nothing bad ever happens here." I shrug._

_Oh. Eat your words Sophomore Elena._

_Damon only stands there, as if he's trying to hold in an inside joke. "I got into a fight with my boyfriend." Clearly Sophomore Elena isn't ready to let the mysterious stranger leave, either._

_"'Bout what? May I ask." Damon holds his hands up._

_"Life. Future. He's got it all mapped out." Matt. Little Matt Donovan. _

_"And you don't want it." Damon guesses, but he gets it right on the mark._

_"I don't...know what I want." I sound so useless and young in that one sentence. A sentence I've been parroting ever since._

_"Well that's not true," Damon scoffs, "You want what everybody wants."_

_"What? A mysterious stranger who has all the answers?" I cock an eyebrow at him, shamelessly flirting._

_Damon laughs, "Hm. Well, let's just say I've been around a long time. Learned a few things." _

_"So, Damon, tell me, what is it that I want?" I cross my arms and stand there, all the prowess of a younger and innocent me. _

_Damon's face clouds, as if he's earnestly thinking it out. The idea that Damon Salvatore stopped to give a sophomore girl advice is laughable. But there he is, telling me what every girl really does want. "You want a love that consumes you. You want passion, and adventure, and even a little danger." He smirks, doing that eye thing I know so well now._

_Sophomore Elena is clearly held captive by his words. We stare at eachother for a beat before I decide to speak. "So, what do you want?"_

_Damon's eyes widen. "Uh.." _

_Car lights come around from the corner of the road, breaking off whatever he was about to say. "My parents." I explain to him._

_Except he's holding me with his stare, talking to me again. "I want you to get everything you're looking for, but right now, I want you to forget that this happened. Can't have people knowing I'm in town yet." He smiles, "Good night Elena."_

_And like that the memory is gone. _

I hate that he compelled me, I hate it more than anything about Damon, how willing he is to pick a person apart, but at the same time, I can't blame him.

He said he loved me in another stolen piece of time. He said he couldn't be selfish with me and that Stefan deserved me.

I told him that maybe if I had met him first...but I _had _met him first. And Damon had known it all along.

There are so many loose ends I have with Damon Salvatore just thinking about him makes my head spin. He needs to be here to help me in areas of the transition that Stefan cannot.

Stefan can't teach me to control my bloodlust, it's up to me. And I'm starving. I'm going to have to stay_ starving _all day because it's shining unbelievably bright outside.

Stefan can't give me the tough love and the non-sugar coated version of what I've gotten myself into. Which is what I need to hear right _now_. I_need_ Damon.

I hear a pathetic little whimper building in the back of my throat because I just _want_ Damon.

"Where are you Damon?" I ask my dark room, and because dust particles can't talk, another little whimper comes from my throat.

I'm going to full out lose it in a second here. I miss Damon. Maybe I even love him more then I originally thought. Being a vampire just intensified those feelings to the ninth degree and they're _consuming_ me, just like Damon had told me I wanted.

My thoughts turn to Stefan. I love him, too. I love them both.

I'm a selfish erratic vampire bitch. No wonder none of my friends are in here right now talking to me. They finally see me for what I am. _I_ finally see me for what I am.

With that revelation, I'm balls out sobbing on the floor, scratching the wooden surface with my nails and fighting back the impulse to tear the whole room apart.

I've got my phone whipped out of my pocket in seconds, getting ready to throw it on the wall and watch it break because _who the hell is going to call me now, _when it begins to ring.

I've actually got my arm flung back all ready to let it fly when it does, so if it wasn't for my newly acquired reaction speeds, the phone would be hitting the wall right about now.

I look down to see who's interrupting my movie-worthy moment only to make a strangled noise in the back of my throat, dropping the phone and shimmying backwards a few paces until I'm leaning against the wall. Phone still ringing ominously in the middle of my bedroom floor.

Damon is calling me.

xXx

I don't really know how I got out of Mystic Falls. One minute I'm flirting with a leggy, boring woman in the Grill at three in the morning, and the next I'm at a Holiday Inn, all alone and drinking.

It's times like these when I miss Alaric the most.

My eyebrows raise at this emotion, because technically I'm not supposed to be feeling anything, but if this is the best I can manage emotionless then that's alright.

At least I'm not pining over Elena the Vampire. Or worrying about what will happen when she remembers. Or just _worrying_ about her in general.

Alright, I lied, I _do_ worry about her. Every minute of every second of every day.

But hell, I'm flying fancy free, and I totally rocked a girl's world last night anyway.

Who needs Elena when you've got the world on a fucking silver platter? Not me, right?

Wrong.

_I_ need Elena on a fucking silver platter, preferably in love with me, and _not_ with Stefan.

I have to admit I'm glad she's a vampire now, the whole 'issue' would've come up sooner or later, and Stefan would probably spout some proverbial nonsense about how seventy years was enough for him.

And the more I drink and drown in my emotionless emotions, the more I begin to think that the switch is a lie.

Because I'm going out of head insane right now and the only thing showing proof that maybe the switch _isn't _a lie, is that I'm not packing my bags _rightfuckingnow_ to get back to Mystics Falls and check up on how she's doing.

If I get anymore lovelorn I'm going to have to play Vivaldi on the piano and sing Unchained Melody. At the same time. Jesus Christ.

I mull over the possibility of crashing at Ric's old place before somebody notices no one is occupying the space, but the thought sounds way too close to Elena.

I get off the edge of my bed in the dark little room and pour another sloppy cup of poison, working out the blueprints to my epic plan of getting three girls in my room tonight, except that, of course, now I feel her big brown eyes on my back whenever I endeavor to get some action.

She would have really liked me back in 1864. I was positively virginal.

I feel my lips twitch in a smile and that's not good, not good at all, because I _thought _I switched that emotion stuff off. Like the events of my tired mind haven't already proved to me I'm wrong.

I end up breaking my glass cup on the wall in frustration because I'm_ not _Saint Stefan, president of the Free Will Club, and I am, in fact, _the _Damon Salvatore, nasty, disappointment-of-the-year, third-point-on-the-triangle, alcoholic older brother.

I can literally see the intervention cameras Stefan has set up for later. For when he starts incessantly calling me and asking me to 'do something for Elena' when what he really means is, 'please fuck up so she loves me again!'

I shrug to myself and reach for my phone, because as long as I'm on that path, I might as well call Elena and tell her just what's going down here. That I'm tired of getting beaten over the head with her "I-care-about-you's" and I'm pretty damn sick of playing the dickish elder brother with the thing for the younger brother's girlfriend.

It just really doesn't suit me.

Call it laying down the law, but I'm going out of my head away from her, and I need to start the twelve step program somehow.

So with no further adeu then my fingers going zippity-zap on the touch screen, I call Elena because I have to tell her that I'm _done _with this bullshit, thank you very much, and I wish her well with Stefan and eternity.

But mainly, I think it's just an excuse to hear her voice.

xXx

**Drop a line and tell me what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong, would you? : ) In other words, reviews, please! **


	4. Unexpected Visitors

*****important read!*****

**Wow. Chapter 4 went in a very different direction then I had ****originally**** planned. I'm pretty sure you guys thought it was going one way, too. Well hurray for PLOT TWISTS! :)**

**Two parter once again. Damon&Elena POV. ALSO...IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT... My goal as a fanfic writer was to get to 70 reviews by chapter 7. we have THREE more chapters to go for that to happen. So please drop a line for me, will you? Thanks loves! **

**You also are probably wondering why Damon and Elena haven't had a conversation. Don't worry. Next chapter it's serious Delena time..**

The cheerful sound of my ring tone sounds absolutely inappropriate as it bounces loudly off the walls. I wipe the last of the tears from my eyes and breathe deeply as the sunshiney notes of the cellphone song begin coming to an end.

It's now or never. I can pick up that phone, knowing full well nothing good will come out of it, or I can leave it be. I can let Damon hear the sound of my voicemail and drive him away for good.

Unless. Unless...

Unless it has the opposite effect and he ends up booking it right to my door, blue eyes flaring as he chastises me about not picking up my phone.

I close my eyes and I can almost see it. "Why didn't you pick up, Elena?" Damon manipulating his voice to be angrier than he really is, the soft pads of his thumbs brushing my face, past sins completely forgotten at the untimely reunion. I have a butterfly hope in my chest that it will bring him home, and this nightmare will end. Damon can teach me everything I need to know, and I can retire to the safety of Stefan after every lesson.

Before I can make my decision the ringer comes to an end, and my dark room is once more plunged into a crushing silence. My head falls in my hands and I force back another helpless sob, because Damon was practically _in_ my room, just a slide of my phone lock away, and I let it slip through my fingers because I was too damn indecisive.

I guess some things never change.

I could call him back, but I'm not sure I want to.

I could text him, but it seems far too impersonal.

The worst part is knowing I now have an eternity to battle with these emotions. An eternity to lay in Stefan's arms and try and keep a "_what if_" from slipping past my lips.

I'm brought out of my momentary depression by the pert little "blip!" my phone lets out, announcing it has one new message.

One. New. Message.

With a fluid movement I'm still not used to yet, I've got my phone in my hands, eyes all glazed from tears and hair a knotted and messy _mess_. It still smells slightly of sand and fish and lake water.

My thumb shakes uncertainly over the 'listen' option that will surely give me access to the sound of Damon's voice. My fear is knowing that maybe he left a goodbye message. A goodbye _forever_ message.

And I've already figured it out that I'm pretty much nothing in the forever department if Damon isn't involved.

Just as I'm about to press down on my screen, it lights up a second time.

I raise my eyebrows. A text.

A text from Caroline.

I'm distracted for a moment, standing there and staring at the text. It very nearly makes me forget all about this epic inner battle I was just having with myself.

_I can't find Tyler. Bonnie has been gone for more then 24 hours. Klaus is back._

My hands begin to tremble as I read and re-read the message again and again. This is _really_ shaping up to be my worst nightmare. The more I read it the more I begin to shake with fear. My palms begin to sweat and my throat is closing up fast. I'm as good as dead. A _lot _of people are as good as dead. If there's one thing I've learned, you _don't _double-cross Klaus. And now here I am, doppelganger #2 that's escaped his grasp. Without leaving anyone behind for a new one at all.

Klaus will make us all pay for this. He may have even started with Bonnie and Tyler. My stomach does weird flippy things that have nothing to do with my ever-growing hunger.

For a moment I stand still, debating my options, thinking of ways out and roads in. Then it hits me.

The one person who is the most danger right now is the person who doomed me to become a vampire in the first place.

I choose to ignore Damon's voicemail and Caroline's text because I'm calling someone else.

I'm calling Stefan.

xXx

It goes straight to her voicemail.

'Hey you've reached Elena Gilbert, leave me a message and I'll call you back!' Her noticeably younger voice chirps over the phone, with some background noise, as if she was leaving it in the middle of a happy family dinner.

I guess that maybe she never got around to deleting it. A little piece of her she doesn't want to lose.

"Elena, it's Damon," and I roll my eyes at myself, no _shit_, Sherlock. I have _got_ to get better at leaving messages, "I'm coming home because obviously there's something wrong if you don't answer your phone."

I hang up and, with the sheer will power that comes with 160 years of living, I don't try to call her again.

Maybe there _is _something wrong. My mind is jumping to conclusions so fast I'm pretty sure I'm going to have broody eyebrows to match Stefan's if I keep it up. Did she even end up transitioning? I'm up and pacing, running fingers through my tussled hair and gnawing on my lower lip. Is my brother Stefan standing in a black suit over Elena's grave, all hero-hair do and angst, with the rest of the gang? Right _now?_ Without me?

Life is an even bigger bitch then I thought. So is my imagination.

Now what the fuck do I do? Carry through with my message about returning back home to make sure Elena's okay? That's Stefan's job. Except that I hate Stefan right now, a-fucking-lot, and my emotional switch is playing all sorts of games on me because I can still_ feel_. I'd really like to gain one up on Stefan and hang around so that Elena and him can never have their perfect happily-ever-after.

That's so petty. I should probably audition for Desperate Housewives or Gossip Girl because that's right where my thought process belongs. I'm pretty pissed at myself for even knowing about those shows. Dating Vampire Barbie for that brief period of my life exposed me to the true horrors of American television.

In fact hearing Elena's happy voice, so vibrant and alive, in her message, makes me want to go out and destroy a bus full of_ seniors_. Because it reminds me of the way her voice used to sound when she was so sure of Stefan and her. So happy and secure in the knowledge that she had the perfect boyfriend. The brightest future. And then the baddies found her, no, more specifically, _I _found her, and dashed her hopes and crushed her dreams.

Because Elena is my drug and Stefan is that cranky old policeman that keeps getting in my way.

I'm pretty sure if Jeremy were old enough, he'd be in a uniform right up there with Stefan too. I've taken to calling him the Little Cockblocker Jr. Stefan being the biggest, baddest one of them all.

He's so good, he pretty much can cockblock himself.

Except where Elena's concerned, in which case my brother seems to hold the golden motherfucking key.

I'm pretty sure it's because of how whipped I am over this girl that I'm packing my bags in harried, hurried movements. I've got a small black handbag full of vodka and whiskey and okay, yeah, Alaric's favorite mixture, because not only am I a heartbroken vampire, it seems I've also become quite the nostalgic son of a bitch too. Once as the alcohol is in the bag my packing is done. I didn't bring any clothes or precious mementos with me.

I'm out of that musty Holiday Inn in five seconds flat. The cool air of the evening feels a hell of a lot better than that dusty bedroom, and I pause in the parking lot for one second, just long enough to think: _Am I really going to do this?_

And the answer is yes. Because I'm in love with Elena, and I need to know she's okay before I go out and live the rest of my life in the shadows of Stefan and Elena's epic love. If I just get out what I've been meaning to say: how many times she's done me wrong, how I was always there, how I don't understand - if I can just get it all out once, I'll be all set for watching the Precious Moments series coming my way. I need to see her face when I tell her I'm done trying, even though every subtle movement I make will be for her.

My thoughts are getting so crazy devoted I glance down to see if I've got a collar around my neck. With a cute little name tag or something.

_Damon Salvatore. 160+ years old. Belongs solely to Elena Gilbert, please return upon finding._

It's just really sad, the bullshit that is my life now.

I pop open the hood of my car and lay my bag down gently so I don't break any of my life-saving bottles. The irony of laying the bag over a few of Alaric's old wooden stakes and vervain darts isn't lost on me either. A vampire driving a car made for killing vampires. When did I become such a traitor to the cause? I make a mental note to clear out Alaric's stuff. Can't be reminded of_ everything_ I've lost, now can I?

I take my time making my way around the back of my car, and take even more time opening the door and sliding in, because let's face it, this is just about the most selfish, desperate thing I've done in my life. I mean I'm only going back to Mystic Falls to check on Elena, spew out a few from-the-heart speeches, make Stefan seriously pay for all the shit he's done, and hightailing it back to the open road once more.

I've got my keys in the ignition all ready to go when I hear a smooth voice from the back seat.

"Hello, Damon."

I know that voice. That voice makes me very nearly break my keys in the ignition lock. It's not sweet like the _other_ one's voice, it's filled with 500 years of seductive knowledge and horrible, _horrible_ pick up lines.

I roll my eyes and groan, because there goes my perfect plan of a peaceful ride back with nothing but my tortured mind to keep me company.

"Katherine."


	5. Long Road

**WHOAH. 57 reviews? WOW. I have this AWESOME feeling we'll get to 70 before my goal. :) Thank you everybody! I only hope you guys will keep liking this story..!**

**All of you have been so kind! **

****important** This is a really, really long chap. 3,000 words. Feel free to skim over the Elena/Feeding/Worrying/Driving-to-the-Salvatoring first segment of this chappy if you think it's too long. *promise* it won't be tediously long too often!**

**Much love!**

**xXx **

Stefan never answered his phone. It was absolute hell having to wait for the sun to go down before doing anything about it. When the last ring had been cut off, taking me to Stefan's voicemail, it had been 4:30, two hours until it got dark enough for me to leave my room. In those two hours I had been..._productive._ My room at home was an absolute mess I was all heightened emotions and frenzied nerves, and the pile of fluff that was once my brave, self-sacrificial pillow is to show for it.

As for Caroline's text, I had shot her one back, asking her to meet me at the Salvatore's house at 8:00. She never texted back. It left me borderline insane. My eyes had kept straying to the (1) new message notification on my phone, but I never clicked it. I couldn't go there now. If I listened to that message I may very well loose the will to leave my room. Loose the will to even fight Klaus off for the millionth time.

_"I'll never be one of those girls who's world stops spinning because of some guy," _I had once said to my Aunt Jenna. Yeah, well, pre-Vampire Elena was a massive hypocrite.

The minute it got dark I was up and out of my room, zipping down the corridor, stomach gaping with hunger, gums nearly on fire, nerves fried. I knew Caroline had left a few blood bags in my freezer the night before. She had been all sympathetic words and lipgloss, patting me on the back, offering to compel somebody at the Grill so that Jeremy could have a job. So he could do something and not have to sit at home and watch me feed. In the end, I had relented, and Caroline had chirped off, forgetting to pull the blinds on all the windows, thusly banishing me to my room.

I'm guessing that's where Jeremy is now. At the Grill.

The minute I got into the kitchen I had the freezer door open, staring at the blood bags laying tantalizing in the freezer. My knees literally knocking at what I was about to do. This would be the first time I would feed all on my own...the thought made my stomach clench. I reached forward, grabbed the first bag I saw and just barely managing to stop myself from diving in right away.

Because if I were to just rip the bag open, no matter how starving, how _horrible_ I felt, I would be no better then a monster. I laughed grimly as my eyes skimmed over the white label. "Thank you Martha McKelin, for your 'B positive' blood..." it was almost like a prayer and a jab at myself in the same sentence. Highly disturbing.

I had the bag ripped open in a second, blood coating my tongue, flowing down my throat. I felt alive, I felt good, I felt myself getting stronger. I felt the black veins tickling my skin and my entire being was clouded with want for this single, thrumming life force. I just _felt._ That's what it was all about._Feeling._ The bag was finished in two seconds, my hands already back in the freezer, fishing for another one.

"No!" I scolded myself, removing my hands and stumbling backward from the freezer, empty bloodbag laying on the floor, dribbling onto the hardwood.

No. No. _No._ I couldn't take more then what I needed. I only needed one bag. That's all. One bag. I grit my teeth, feeling my fangs nip at my bottom lip, willing the veins to disappear, for my eyes to turn back to normal. I had my wrists clenched so tight I was pretty sure my knuckles would pop right out of my skin. But so help me God, I would not take anymore blood.

I had to get to the Salvatore house to meet Caroline, hopefully Stefan would be there. I had to cast Damon's voicemail out of my head and deal with the new, terrifying reality that Klaus may be back, Bonnie and Tyler dead because of it.

It was enough to get me out of the house, breathing in the fresh night air with grateful, obnoxious breathes, and slipping into my car, revving it up.

Driving the car as a vampire felt awkward and strange. I could hear the car thrumming loudly, all the parts clicking together in an ear-granting symphony. My hands shook on the wheel and I gripped tighter then I should've, leaving two impressions of my hands on the softer leather of the steering wheel. I would never get used to this. Never.

It took twenty minutes of back roads to get to the Salvatore house, and by the time I pulled into the Boarding House driveway, heard the rattle of the engine fade, my lips were a gnawed mess. I tried to listen for any sound of movement inside the house, announcing that somebody (Stefan?) was home, but came up empty. Tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, I breathed deeply.

Okay, Elena Gilbert, you can do this. You will walk into that house and _wait_ for Caroline.

xXx

_Earlier.._

Sometimes I can be kind of a pussy. I mean, after listening to about three hours' worth of Katherine's terrible one-liners and Stefan-obsessed questions, anybody would be feeling a little girly-i-fied. The fact that she had come equipped with a Roadtrip CD because - and she said this with her eyebrows raised and about two miles of golden thigh showing - 'I just love the band _so_ much.' had damned me to hell for the rest of the ride.

I knew it was her little way of trying to get my brain to explode and it very nearly worked, because Katherine always did have slightly weird taste in music. And it's really fucking hard to stick your head out the window and steer while simultaneously trying to block out the horrors of what sounds like two dying cats in the middle of a song about Hannibal Lector. It reminded me of old Ripper Steffie, all mussed hair do and guts hanging from my baby bro's lips.

The minute I had parked my car into the garage and the last horrific song had come to an end, we'd begun to argue. And I _really _hate arguing with Katherine because I almost always end up with a damn _stake_ in my stomach. Pissy little bitch.

"Why are you even here?" I groaned, because, let's face it, seriously - _why_? Why in the history of stupid Katherine decisions is she choosing to show up_ now?_

"I heard Klaus was dead and I decided to come back," Katherine's eyes flits over the boarding house garage as if it's actually her very own Home Sweet Home, "It was terribly boring in Cairo," she murmurs, exposing another mile of her long legs and biting her fat bottom lip coyly. "I had no company." She bats her eyes and I know _exactly_ what she's got planned.

I fight the urge to push her out my car and run her over a few times.

"Well no offense, Katherine, but we all hate you." I flip the key out of the ignition matter-of-factly and wait for the wooden stake surely coming my way. Heaven forbid anybody gets in the of Katherine Pierce Seduction 101. I might as well just open the trunk of my car and show her the vervain darts. _'Use me for target practice, Katherine!'_

Katherine makes a low growl in the back of her throat and pouts, "I also heard Elena is a vampire._Congrats_, Damon, I knew one of you boys would get around to turning her eventually." Her red lips turn up in a diabolical smile that would put Cruella de Vil to shame.

I grit my teeth and try to keep my hands at my sides, instead of around her pretty neck, because that was the _one_ piece of information I was trying to keep from her during our car-ride. And it wasn't too hard, either, because every question was about Stefan, anyway.

But of_ course _Katherine knows. You can't keep anything from her. She's a regular modern-day stalker.

"It was an accident." I manage to grit out, and I can't _believe_ I'm still sitting here in this car with her. I have better things to do.

Like pine after Elena while making sure she's okay and then ripping my own heart out by telling her I have to leave and I kinda hate her for it. That was the whole point of this roadtrip back home, right? The only thing that made me not drive in an entirely different direction to drop Katherine off at the nearest airport.

Take a hint, bitch.

"I thought I might be needed in this crisis." Katherine pauses for dramatic effect, "Elena may pull away from Stefan, you know?"

I make a 'pfft' sound and laugh, because she is truly ridiculous, and in _exactly _the same boat as me. We could probably form our own Lonely Hearts club and rip eachother apart while we're at it, too. I smirk, "You're just like me now, Katherine."

Katherine obviously takes that as an insult, and I don't blame her, who wouldn't? I'm an alcoholic fuck-up with an intense, all-consuming love for my brother's girl. "Dick." She quips, and crosses her arms sulkily, looking away from me and out the window.

Ah yes, because the picturesque grey cement wall is so much more interesting then my face.

"Whore." I shoot back, and I'm reaching on the handle to get out of this barely masked prelude to a Pity-Fuck when Katherine opens her mouth again.

"Why did I ever even bother to turn you?" She groans, rolling her eyes and twirling her hair with a finger in a way I guess she thinks is adorable or sexy. You'd think after 500 years she'd realize it gets her absolutely _nowhere_. But this is Katherine, and she could be standing side-by-side with someone facing a mirror, and only see her. Oblivious.

I decide now is the perfect time to unleash my inner-diva, because _hell _no is she telling me I wasn't worth turning. "What did I ever see in you, Katherine?" I ask, and it's a rhetorical question, because I plunge on, answering it for her, "Except myself, and Stefan, and the garden boy, and the preacher's son..." I'm ticking off the name's of her extra bed partners with my fingers, and enjoying every fucking minute of it.

Katherine's face turns a funny shade of purple and she gives me a memorable chicken slap, "Bastard!" she snarks, "You're such a dick!"

I'm out of that car in two fucking seconds because she's already looking around for something to_stab _me with. I raise my eyebrows and catch her eye, pointing to the hood of the car where Alaric's lovely stakes and darts and held. She doesn't get it, only continues glaring at me from the passenger seat.

"Aren't you going to open the door for me, Damon?" She says sweetly, although her hypcritical glare is still plastered all over her face.

"No." I answer immediately, because c'mon, this isn't rocket science. I will _never _be caught opening the door for Katherine. I did _that _enough in the 1800's. It's become a personal vow of mine. My very own altar call and pledge.

"You really are a dick." Katherine sneers.

"Maybe I'm born with it," I smile at her from outside the car, "Maybe it's Maybelline."

xXx

You think I'd get over the fact that Damon likes to appear suddenly out of nowhere, but no, even my heightened senses doesn't prepare me for suddenly_ seeing_ him there.

His back is to me as he rifles through some old, _really _old, papers. I'd just opened the door to their house when my attention had been caught by the sound of paper rustling and shallow, vampiric breathing. There had been a tiny little sliver of hope it was Damon, not Stefan or Caroline, that I would find when I rounded the corner.

And my hopeless hoping had been rewarded. I _know_ I have to make my presence known, but there is so much between us, _so _much since the last time I saw him: blue eyes flashing and rage twisted across his face. I'm not sure how to start a conversation at all.

Finally, I settle on an "_Ahem._"

Damon stiffens right away, dropping his papers and staring straight at the wall. I want so badly to see his face, to go to him, but I'm hanging back. There are _so_ many reasons to hang back.

"Elena?" He asks, and this just a enough softness in his voice to send my feet vaulting forward.

"Damon!" I cry, and he turns just as I hit him, enveloped in the spicy scent of cologne and the softer, masculine smell of him. Damon. _My _Damon. I've got tears of pure joy running down my face because he's here. Damon's _here._ And now this nightmare of Klaus and Bonnie and Tyler and Stefan will be over._ Damon _will know what to do. My hands are wrapped around his shoulders, fingers on his neck. I have to keep touching him to know he's real. That _this _is real.

"Hey, hey," his arms snake around my waist and he buries his lips in my hair, "Nice to see you too."

There's something off about his words. Cold. I pull back from him just to search his face, and I don't like what I find there. His jawline is taunt and it looks like he's fighting a little battle in his mind right now.

"Are you okay?" He asks, and I choose to ignore whatever is going on in his head, snapping out of my haze and opting to answer his question instead.

No. No I'm not. And what I can't tell Stefan, and I can tell Damon. So I let it fly, all my doubts, all my fears. I trust those blue eyes to hold my secrets. "No, Damon, I'm not. I.. I needed you. I turned, but I haven't...no I haven't -" I stumble and trip over my words in the effort to get them out, "I haven't drank from anyone and I don't want to, because...please.. Damon, don't let me_ kill _anyone. Don't let me hurt anybody." The last sentence out, I all but collapse.

_Just don't let me kill or hurt anyone. _

Damon stands there, mouth slightly parted, breath smelling of delicious bourbon; and I fight the urge to land a kiss right on his lips. I can feel every piece of him right down to his fingertips still lightly resting on my waist, and I find for the first time, that there _is _a plus side to be this way. To be what I am.

Damon's face clouds as he laughs darkly and shakes his head. _Unbelievable _is written all across his face, and yeah, it hurts, just a little. "Where's Stefan?" he asks, and I cringe.

I wanted to hear that everything was going to be alright, but Damon has other plans.

"I...don't know. I thought he might be here." I stutter, confused, and pull away from him. He lets me go without a fight, a cold rush of air coming inbetween us as he examines his hands. The way he does it reminds me of someone who looks for burns.

"Hmm," Damon's eyes cut to mine as he takes a step towards me, his proximity doing all sorts of things to my body, "Elena, we have to talk."

Yes, we do. I nod, "I know, Damon, I know."

And I'm ready for this. I'm _ready _for this talk. I don't think I've ever_ been _more ready. I force down the smile that's trying to bubble out of me because I_ should_ be unhappy. Klaus is alive, for God's sake, and I can't find Stefan. It's just enough guilt to keep the happiness down, and Damon seems to notice that my face turns sober.

"-but we can't talk about it now. I don't know when, but we will," he reaches out for my hands and I let him take them in his own, "We have to talk, Elena. Remember that." His blue eyes search mine and I nod back, a silent answer. I want to talk about meeting him first right now. I want to talk about that night he gave my necklace back. I_ need_ to tell him about how afraid I am of facing 'forever', but he's right, it's not the time.

I should tell him the facts first. The unhappy, cold facts.

Damon looks as if he's barely keeping something down and I'm sure I look the same way. I can hear his heart gently pulsing under his v-neck black shirt and I just want to curl up and listen to that beat for days. Years, maybe. Quite possibly forever.

It's already become my new lullaby.

I shake my head, clearing the thoughts, and try to focus on getting the words out of my head. "Damon..."

-and at the same time, Damon says, "Elena..."

"Klaus isn't dead and Stefan is missing." I blurt out. Damon wouldn't care if Tyler or Bonnie were gone, well, he might care that Bonnie was away, but in the grand scheme, he'd care the most if Stefan were gone. Even if the last time they were together he cracked a few ribs.

"Katherine's back." Damon's voice follows on the tail of my own, and we both stand there staring at eachother for a moment.

I can't even register what he's saying and I'm pretty sure he can't wrap around what_ I'm_ saying either.

So we just stare at eachother with nothing but the wind softy rustling outside the house interrupting the silence that's fallen over us both.

Then Damon finally seems to snap out of it, his eyes doing that eye thing he does so well, his mouth opening in disbelief. "Dammit." He supplies, instead of a '_we'll get through this_' style speech that Stefan might have done.

Dammit is right.

xXx

**Tell me what you think of this monster of a chapter, would you? **


	6. Conversation

****important** ...so call me overly ambitious, but I have something really Delena-y (physically, mentally...) planned for the next chapter AND klaus-y AND I'd love it if we get to 100 reviews. 100 reviews for a special chapter :) I'm so glad this story has gotten such good reception and I hope you guys keep reviewing {even if it's to point out some errors, like one reviewer did} **

**ALSO. I made a change. I really couldn't go about writing an interesting story with DamonxNoEmotions, so I made a change to Chapter 3 where he sort of tries to switch it off. Right now he's struggling with it. & another thing: Elena no longer *loves* Stefan, but in Damon's perception, she's acting like it. **

**AND...DAMON'S DRINK IS DRUGGED! AH NOES!**

**Enjoy ;)**

**xXx **

It wasn't long after I said "dammit" that Katherine popped in. She'd done the usual - snide remarks about Elena's _everlasting_ love with Stefan, all bitter eyes and jealousy - and then, when I threatened to help her remove her head out of her ass, she'd smirked.

"I'll be back later," she'd informed us, "So don't go anywhere without me." She had risen a finger and wagged it like we were wayward school children.

"Real great idea, Katherine," Elena had shot back, and I couldn't help but raise my eyes at that tiny display of fire.

I could get used to this Elena, even though I miss the walking Hybrid machine _just _a little bit. I mean, she's a dopplevamp now; I'd have to _watch _her feed on blood, overturn tables with her heightened emotions and zip around like a freaking hummingbird. It was a bit of an adjustment. At least I have centuries on her in terms of strength - I do like the whole dominance thing.

Elena and I had spent the rest of time dressing the elephant in the room up in a tutu and dancing it gracefully around while trying to come up with some sort of plan of action. It seems as if Klaus doesn't like to die - obviously - and it has something to do with Tyler and Bonnie and Stefan being gone. I'm bit worried about that last person. Nobody gets to rip baby bro's heart out but me. That was established years ago.

And after exactly five glasses of scotch later, Vampire Barbie made an appearance.

Because every great idea in the history of ever was formulated with her in the room. Not._ And _I'm on the verge of drunkeness. Naturally my ideas have become, '_hey Elena let's forget about this mess and see what you're like as a vampire...in bed_.' I'm just sober enough to keep that thought to myself and stay on the topic of spewing out ridiculous plans on saving Stefan & Co.

"Caroline," Elena breathes, and she crosses her arms across that tight little blue shirt just so, making me down another glass of scotch so I won't say anything rude to her. Looks like I'll be channeling my 1864 genteel self to get through this one. "Have you heard from Stefan?" She's all concern and big, wet eyes.

As much as I'm curious as all hell to know where Saint Stefan has pranced off to, I can't help but feel that same, jealous stab run through me. I mean it wasn't less than an hour ago that she was looking into my fucking soul and babbling random, coming-of-vampire-age worries.

"Yes, I have," Caroline looks so efficient holding her iPhone in one hand with a purse in her other one. She tosses her curls and glowers at me, "But what is_ he_ doing here?"

"I know you're distracted by pretty things, but, seriously Blondie, tell us about Stefan." I hold out my hands and smirk, winking at her.

Caroline goes into some weird little freak out because she can't _believe _I have the _nerve_, and all I can think of was the time she told me she liked a guy who was straight-forward. Talk about a walking contradiction in shiny, pink pumps.

Of course, it's probably just that I'm Damon the Dick and no decent girl would want anything to do with me at all.

Elena sits on the couch looking eager to hear what she has to say about Stefan, but Caroline is still moving her mouth, talking about how I left at a time when everybody needed eachother. It's entertaining to watch her rip into me so I'm all for sitting back and watching Vampire Barbie go on...except when it occurs to me that Elena is probably taking mental notes about her interpretation of my behavior. To see if I'm right, I try to be suave and glance at her from under my eyelashes but only come up seeing an eye-full of dark.

Stupid fucking girly lashes. I drop that plan and go for the intensely creepy side stare.

Eyes wide open, I see that Elena really _does_ look like she's got a pencil behind her ear and a metaphorical clipboard in her hands, listening enraptured to Caroline's 'blah blah blahing.'

So, before Caroline spouts some sort of nonsense about how I was probably drinking-and-having-sex-in-some-random-Holiday-Inn, in which case she would be _exactly_ right, I interrupt: "Please stop talking unless you have something nice to say. Preferably about Stefan."

Caroline shoots me one final look before opening her mouth again to finally, _finally_ tell us the location of my elusive brother. "He's at the Grill getting Jeremy, and then he's coming here."

Elena speaks up for the first time in what seems like ever, a big, fat frown all over her face. "Do we really need to involve Jeremy in this?" she asks with a tilt of her head. She's got her lip stuck out ever-so-slightly, and my mind is going in all sorts of forbidden directions.

"It was Stefan's idea." Caroline says matter-of-factly.

Elena's face darkens even more and - _what_? Mayday, mayday, I think she actually doubts St. Stefan's words. I have to bite my tongue to keep myself from laughing, because nobody goes against the awesome power that is my brother. He's president of the Free Willys, every last one of them. "Does Elena doubt the words of Stefan?" I gasp, and then my face hardens as I go on, "Good because I do too, that's why he's going out on a brotherly date with me, a stake, and his stomach." The wide-eyed Bambi look Elena gives me is enough to prove that she _knows _I mean every word.

I'm still mad as hell at Stefan. Maybe even more so now than before because _now_ Klaus is going to kill us all in the name of revenge. He's going to have Arts & Crafts time with our intestines. Probably starting with Stefan's. Which scares me. A lot more then I want to admit.

"Well, okay," Elena sighs, giving in to the fact that Jeremy isn't getting off scott-free. Hell, I don't really care if Jeremy knows one way or another. I just want to see Stefan and him come suited up in their Cockblock police uniforms.

"-Second order of business," Caroline goes on primly, "Tyler is -" she takes a deep breath, I don't know whether she's serious or if she's just doing that for dramatic shit, "missing. And so is Bonnie." Caroline's beady little eyes pinpoint on me, interestingly enough, and her left eyelid twitches just a tad.

Her whole Criminal Minds act is making this really hard not to burst out laughing, "I have no idea where Witchy Witch went off to, and honey, I'm sure Tyler is off ... peeing in the woods or something." The thought is so disturbing and real I actually don't have to force a grimace on my face.

To Caroline's credit, she does some sort of deep-breathing exercise that allows her to regain control before she's lost it. We all sort of stand there awkward as hell, not really knowing what else there is to say, and my brilliant, _brilliant_ 'peeing in the woods' line still echoing through our heads.

I have never been more grateful to see Katherine re-appear in my life.

-and she's got a bewildered Stefan (just seeing his face makes my blood boil), Jeremy - with that typical stupid sixteen year old mouth-open eyes-wide thing he does, and...

Elijah and Kol. It's no surprise Rebekah isn't here; she hasn't been seen since the night of the _'accident.'_

I'm in the process of trying to work out _why_ the hell Katherine isn't half way across the peninsula right about now and _when _the hell Kol decided to be part of the Original family again.

Elena stands up abruptly and zips over to Stefan, holding his arm and whispering something to him.

Whoah. Girl can move fast. And ouch. My heart. Stefan's got his arms locked around her waist in a vice grip and I'm seriously debating just staking him in the ass right now.

After Stefan and Elena are done having their cutsie wootsie whisper-fest, and the rest of us are just standing stock still, staring at eachother, Kol decides to get the ball rolling.

"Damon," he greets with a bob of his head, and the bastard's got a cheeky grin three-miles wide. I can almost see his bat hitting my face all over again. I send him a death-glare. I _hate_ you, Wannabe Klaus. "Caroline," and he's got a special My-Brother-Wants-To-Bang-You-Therefore-You're-Cool smile just for her.

"Kol," Caroline responds stiffly, and I guess Blondie has _some_ brains, because she seems to be a little uncomfortable under Kol's gaze. "Elijah."

Stefan and Elena are too busy having eye-sex or soul searching or something to notice the rest of us are apparently re-introducing ourselves. It's all pretty ridiculous and I'm starting to wish I'd stayed in that hotel, or, hell, even driven somewhere with Katherine.

Elijah's got his signature tux on and his hair is slicked back. The man really does have a great sense of style. I knew there was a reason why he was my favorite. Elijah nods at us both, "Katherine thought it would be nice for us to come along."

Katherine looks like she's trying really hard not to burst into tears or make a mad dash for the nearest door. She only stands there with a twisted, sour look. Mental note to Damon Salvatore: ask Katherine how the Originals made her their newest pet.

Stefan nods, "Kol, Elijah." He states their names while running a careless hand through his over-gelled hair. Stef's got about two barrels of cologne on him, he's got his broody eyebrows on full force, and somehow he _still_ manages to keep Elena by his side.

I mean the nerve of this guy. And the nerve of Elena. How could she stand there next to the man who doomed her to literal _forever with a capital 'F',_ and pretend to forget about me? Meeting _me_ first. It's selfish of me, but I'm really fucking tired of being selfless, and I left my heroism somewhere back on the open road.

Nobody's said anything so I figure it's my perfect opportunity to piss some people off. As usual. "Jackasses." I dip my head, acknowledging them all. Except for Elena - okay, yeah, nevermind, she's back to molesting Stefan with her eyes. The name goes out to her too.

Everybody just stares at me like I'm talking to myself, and maybe I am, but they weren't supposed to know that.

"What?" I ask, "I thought as long as we were all calling ourselves by our own names..."

"Are you drunk?" Katherine cocks her head and flips her hair like she cannot _fathom_ Damon Salvatore is drunk.

I look down at the glass in my hands. Seesh. Is this my seventh? eighth? Drink? Maybe I am drunk. Who cares? I don't. So, because I'm a masochist, I send her a big grin, "Yep."

"I'll go get my bat," Kol mutters, turning halfway around before Elijah grabs the little jerk-off by the arm so he can't go anywhere.

"Control yourself Kol. He's not worth it."

I should really just shut up right about now, but it's the liquor talking, "Oh, I'm worth it," I quip,and waggle my eyebrows at the females knowingly.

I hear a tiny intake of breath from Elena and it's enough to shut me up. I duck my head down to stare at the glass in my hand and notice I'm trembling. That can't be good. Was there something in that drink?

Everybody is just standing around trying to remember what they were going to talk about before I started messing around, and they all look so damn weirded out by eachother's company.

I'm not sure how long we're standing in this Alfred Hitchcock silence but a sharp, rapid knock on the door causes us all to jump slightly.

Stefan wraps an arm around Elena's chest, his face dialing to extra-angsty. Elijah swallows nervously while Kol mutters something about bats. Caroline's hanging on Jeremy's arm in a second like a lost, confused prom queen. And, I guess because Katherine and I have no one else to go to, I feel her hand clench on mine as a breeze of air grazes my face because of her quick movement.

Because everyone is just staring at the door like there's _Klaus _or something behind it, I call out, "Door's open!" in the most cheerfully drunk voice I can manage.

Come on down to the Salvatore Boardin' house, home of shitfaced disasters.

Katherine drops my hand and gives me a withering look. "Well somebody had to say it." I mutter darkly. Idiots. All of them.

"_Day-mon_" They all hiss at me.

_What_? I glare at them and take another sip of my scotch. How long do they really expect to stare at a door until the person behind it decides to just barge on in? Am I the only sane one around here? And why didn't I notice this scotch tastes so funny?

The door creaks open and I swear I can hear every pathetic last one of them breath-in sharply like it's some sort of scene straight out of_Scream 2_. Seriously these people need to take acting classes, because they're pretty useless at everything else. I'm not really paying attention to who the hell is at the door because my vision is getting _alarmingly_ blurry. And then somebody says his name. "Klaus."

Klaus stands in the doorway. Turns out maybe I'm the biggest idiot of them all.

He's right there, standing in the doorway, clear as day. Menacing smile playing all across his lips. I hear Caroline's heart speed up just a tad more then everybody else, and I know the question that she's dying to ask: 'Where's Tyler?'

Well screw Tyler and everybody else, this creep can't just come barging into _my_ house. Since when did I allow my bachelor pad to be the meeting place for impending doom?

And yeah, I think there's something wrong with my drink, but it doesn't matter, because I can't tell myself to shut up. Even though I_ am _telling myself. I'm really, _really _trying. It comes out anyway: "What are you doing here, dick?"

Klaus raises his eyebrows and gives a sadistic little laugh, "Damon, you haven't changed a bit since you helped lock me in the coffin." His eyes twinkle like some sort of serial killing Kris Kringle. It's like getting de-animated and re-animated is a regular thing for him. Maybe it_is_ a regular thing for an Original. I shake my head a little because the revelations I'm having today blow my mind.

"Where's Bonnie? And Tyler?" Caroline swallows nervously before stepping away from Jeremy and setting her feet apart. "What have you done to them?"

Klaus's eyes rank over Caroline's figure in a way I can do so much better - but more on that later - and he cocks his head. "What's the matter love? Missing your boy?"

This brilliant question pops into my brain mysteriously and it's forming into words faster then I can tell myself to quit it.

_Shut up Damon. Don't say it. Don't say it. Shut up shutshutshutup. _

"Did you two screw?" I yell out, "Cuz the tension in here -"

Before I can finish my sentence (and I'm not sure where I was going with that statement anyway) I'm knocked sideways into the wall. My head hits against something. Something _hard_. I deserve it. Even though I'm pretty sure I'm under the influence of a drug, I still deserve it...

The last thing I hear is Elena screeching my name.

**xXx**

**Reviews please! & also I lied...this chapter is massive too. Sorry not sorry ;P**


	7. Famous Last Words

****important** Alright, chapter 7..here it is. I do admit this is one of my favorite I've written. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed/favorited/alerted. Means a lot to me! Also, I'm hoping for 100+ reviews. We can do this! :)**

**ALSO.. HEY! HEY YOU! SCROLLING DOWN! WAIT!**

**I've decided my story will be at least 15 chapters long and no more than 20. You've been warned. :P**

**xXx **

**"He kissed my lips I taste your mouth. **

**He pulled me in I was disgusted with myself."**

**~Thinking Of You - Katy Perry**

**xXx **

"Damon!" I'm screaming at the top of my lungs, lunging forward to reach him where Klaus has him pinned against the wall. I feel someone's hands (Caroline's?) around my arm as I watch Stefan reach his brother's side. I shake Caroline's arms off of me and lunge forward, only to be stopped by a pair of weaker, human hands. Jeremy's face comes into my peripheral vision and I stop, hanging off his arm, the salty taste of tears on my tongue.

Damon's head is at a funny angle and a trickle of blood is coming from his ear. That cannot be good.

Klaus has Damon's blood on his hands, casually wiping it off on his dress pants and looking disdainfully around the room. He drops Damon on the floor and takes a step back, surveying his handiwork.

"That wasn't the cleanest job I've ever done, now was it?" He asks us, and he winks at me playfully. As if this whole thing is a joke.

I'm sceeching horrible, horrible things at him as I watch Stefan pick Damon up. He hangs in his arms like a limp china doll, his black hair flopping away from his forehead.

"Silence, love," Klaus holds up a hand, "You'll be dealt with in good time. You all will." His eyes flick over me and then trace a long trail through us all, finally ending on his brothers. Elijah and Kol swallow nervously even as they politely smile back. I put a hand over my mouth and bite it viciously to stop another flow of insults.

Klaus leisurely opens the Boarding House door, walking down the driveway, baring his back to us all.

xXx

Damon stirs in his bed where Stefan had left him, making a little sound in the back of his throat that goes straight through me. I trip over myself in the effort to make it to his bedside.

_"I'll just leave him here. Let me know when he...wakes up." Stefan lays Damon down on his bed, tenderly wiping the trail of vampire blood from his ear away, "I have to get the group settled. Figure out what we're gonna do. When he wakes up..."_

_I only nod and cross my arms, "Thanks, Stefan. I'll watch him." _

_Stefan presses his lips together, looking unsure. He reaches out to take my hand and I let him. He squeezes it reassuringly. Safe. I'm safe. And then he's gone._

"Damon?" I shake his shoulders gently, "Damon are you awake?"

"I.." Damon's lips crack open and he seems thirsty, "What..."

"There was something in your drink, I think," I'm fluttering around him like a motherhen before I change directions and zip over to his dresser where I'd put a glass of blood earlier. It'd been difficult resisting my own inclination to drink, but I'd done it. "...but I brought you some blood." I shove it in his face in my flustered state and immediately retract my arm back just as he reaches forward for the glass.

"Sorry, sorry," I apologize quickly and hand him the blood more gently. I watch, transfixed, as the tiniest hint of black veins trickle underneath his skin as he drinks.

He drops the glass on the floor and it shatters. I cringe just as Damon groans, eyes scrunched tight. "I need more."

I fly across the room to retrieve the blood bag I'd used to fill up the glass and re-fill it. I sneak a taste for myself. Oh god, it tastes good. But Damon is waiting patiently in the bed, bewildered look on his face. He seems to be getting stronger, and as he drinks the second glass, I bend down on the floor to pick up shards lying there.

"You don't have to do that you know," he says softly, and I only laugh.

"So what exactly happened?" Damon muses as he sips.

I stand up and lean forward, eyebrows furrowing as I wipe away another trickle of blood from his ear. Damon hands me the emptied cup of blood and I set it on his nightstand before talking. It's a well known fact Damon always gets a little loopy when he talks and drinks blood at the same time. I surprise myself by not moving from my stance, hovering above his face, his blue eyes watching me. I smile weakly, "You pissed Klaus off."

"Klaus?" Damon's eyes go wide, "Why am I not dead?"

"You were, for a little bit."

And I love you, I love you_so_much, I was terrified for you.

But I don't add that part.

"My drink did taste funny." Damon cocks his head and licks his lips as if he can still taste the drug, "Bet it was Katherine, I knew we shouldn't trust her. She came in with the Originals."

"They all came in with the Originals." I reason, and run a hand through his damp hair, unable to help myself. Damon's eyes flicker up to my fingers and his mouth opens just a bit. I stumble an apology and pull my hand back, forcing it to stay in my lap. "Why would anyone drug your drink?" I try to play my tiny display of affection of as cool indifference, but I'm failing miserably.

Damon rolls his eyes, letting it go. "Why would anyone not want to drug my drink? Have we seen Ric's old girlfriend around recently? _Meredith_?"

"Meredith wouldn't drug you." I roll my eyes at his ridiculous statement. Although it reminds me of something that I've kept to myself. My sire-bond. The blood she used...

Damon and Stefan can't know.

Damon sighs and flexes his fingers while tossing his head to the side, "I feel better. Where's Stef? He and I need to...talk." Damon's already hastily trying to get out of the bed and I slam a hand into his chest, pushing him down forcefully.

"Whoah," He smirks at me, "Don't want me to leave?" He raises one eyebrow and gives me his best seductive stare, raising his arms to rest behind his head. I smile weakly and look away. I can't trust myself around those eyes.

"Damon I haven't even kissed Stefan," I shake my head and bite my lip, "-since I turned. I..I can't think about that sort of stuff now."

That sort of stuff. Love. I can't afford to go there. What would happen if I were to kiss Damon now with heightened senses and emotions? Disaster, that's what would happen. And I'm fairly certain Stefan would know my feelings weren't the same if I were to sleep with him now.

Not to mention I've done enough prancing around with these two. Jeremy would quit rolling his eyes and start using the Alaric-Is-Watching-You card, and Caroline...

"Ooh, Stefan must be going out of his mind. He's one ice cream carton away from a complete breakdown."

I stay silent. That may be very well true. The image is almost funny and I have to bit my lip to keep from laughing.

"I feel bad for you," Damon muses, snapping me out of my silence, "I bet you wanted children."

"Oh...well..." I feel and probably look flustered. Yes, I did want children. But I knew with Stefan that'd never be possible. The thought was appealing, and it _had_attracted me to spend more time with Matt..."I guess it doesn't matter anymore." My voice is quiet, small.

Damon frowns and looks me over in a way that makes my spine shiver. "I'm curious. What color did you want your kid's eyes?"

Silence. I stand there with my mouth open as he watches me with those beautiful baby blues. I know exactly what I want to say. Except I'm not going to say it. No. "Damon I..." I shake my head, "I can't answer that question."

Damon laughs bitterly, "Alright, I can't put this off any longer. We should talk."

"Right now?" I'm a little surprised given the circumstances. I mean the man just recovered from some sort of drug-induced thing that made him into a living nightmare of inappropriate social standards. Hell of a drug, if you ask me. Stefan had promised to look into it.

Even so I perch on the side of his bed Indian style, feeling one of his legs pressed against my knee, causing me change positions and hug my knees to my body.

It's now or never.

"Yes, _now_," Damon sighs, "I could die again, Elena, for real."

I press my lips together in an attempt to keep my face indifferent. It's killing me.

"I know," I say, and my voice is small.

"-and I want you to know exactly what's going down," Damon raises one eyebrow, "It seems like Klaus is back for good, which means I can't leave right now..."

"You're leaving?" I interrupt. Panic courses through me. No. No Damon _can't_ leave. The last thing to set my decision in stone was seeing him broken and lifeless on the floor. I know exactly what I want now and he can't just _leave_.

"I was going to leave," Damon corrects, and he looks wary, so wary. Much different from just little over an hour ago. "I can't anymore, not until I know you're safe. But there are certain things you should know as long as I'm here."

_What?_ I want to ask,_ That you love me? Because I love you too. _It's already on my lips when he suddenly impulsively grabs for me, his head finding my neck and resting there.

I put my hands on his hips and breathe in deeply. His cool breath is resting against my barely-there pulse, his nose pressed into my neck, I can feel his lips hovering just above my skin.

"You still smell delicious, Elena," he murmurs into my skin before pulling away, tangling his fingers in my hair, finding my eyes with his eyes.

His eyes reflect what I feel. Want. Lust. Love. Need_. Frustration. _

Damon's lips are just above mine and he's savoring the moment, resting his forehead against my own. His fingers trail down from my hair and begin to trace my cheekbones with a featherlight touch.

"Damon," I whisper, _Kiss me. _But even asking him that seems like betrayal. Not with Stefan downstairs. I'd have to be a thousand miles away from this place to feel as if I wasn't being heard.

There's a moment between us that is so charged, so right, I almost pull away because it scares me so bad. But Damon's lips crash down on mine, his teeth tugging on my lower lip, hands going down to my waist and pulling me into him. We fall back on his pillow, intertwined, kissing fiercely. It feels _right_. Righter then the last time I gave into him. He grinds his hips against me and I let out a soft whimper of encouragement..

Is this really happening?

The answer is no. Because one moment I'm locked in his arms and the next I'm pushed back into some wall, Damon pinning me there with one hand.

"Damon? What -" I cock my head, confused.

"That is," and Damon is still breathing heavily, "the last time we're doing that. The last time, Elena." He seems to be convincing himself instead of me.

I shove his hand aside and he lets it go without a fight. "No, you don't understand, I -"

_I love you_.

Damon's hand shoots back, re-slamming my body into the wall, effectively shutting me up. "No don't you dare say that," he hisses, "don't you _dare_."

My eyes are about to pop out of my head I'm so surprised. So_ scared_. This isn't the Damon I know. My dead heart is doing funny little pitter-pats it's never done before. I feel my emotions choking me and they cloud out everything. It's just Damon. That's all I can think of and it's all I see. Damon.

"I love you, Elena," he grits out, "I love you more then anything in the_ world_," his eyes flare as he clenches his hand around my shoulder, driving his point home, "and Stefan doesn't deserve you, not anymore, but I'm done. You left me to die that night._ Alone_. You went back to Stefan. I promised I would never leave you again and you wouldn't even grant me my dying wish.."

"Stefan was dying too!" I argue weakly, and then I shut my mouth, realizing that was wrong. So wrong.

Damon bites his lower lip and his left eyebrow raises in disbelief. I feel the sting of hot tears washing down my eyes, "Why are you doing this?" I ask weakly, trying to shake his hand off again.

This isn't a loving touch. I don't like it. I don't like it at all.

"Because you hurt me, Elena, and I'm done. I'm done trying. I'm done with yours and Stefan's bullshit." He releases my shoulder and I wince in pain as the tender muscle reassembles underneath my skin, "I'm staying until I know you're safe and then I'm leaving."

He takes a step back, grabbing a stray bottle from his liquor nightstand and swigging it, "I wish you well with Stefan and eternity." Damon deadpans it perfectly, like he always does, and his voice leaves no room for more discussion.

I sink to the floor trying to bite back my tears, my eyes swimming, heart hurting like hell. He won't accept my apologies this time. My 'I care about you's. Frankly I'm not brave enough to say that I love him. Not anymore.

So instead, as he storms towards the door, I call out his name one last time.

He stops but doesn't look at me. Damon looks like a dark being. His button down black shirt fits his lean body and his black pants hugs him in all the right ways. I want to get up and run to him right now, hell, I'll grab his ankle and beg until he has to drag me out of the room with his feet. I'll do_ anything._

"Blue. My child's eyes would have been blue."

I blink back more tears.

"I'm moving on, Elena, I suggest you do too."

He's gone the second I shut my eyes.

xXx

I don't know how long I stay leaning against Damon's bedroom wall. Fifteen minutes maybe. I hear Stefan, Caroline, Katherine and Jeremy fighting heatedly about Damon's drink and the fact that Klaus is still alive. I know they're all frightened and I know I should go down there and tell them that Damon is gone. But I can't. I can't move my legs.

_I'm moving on, Elena, I suggest you do too._

The wolves are just outside the door and Damon Salvatore has fled.

Maybe to a drink at the Grill, maybe to a night with a sorority girl, but he fled just the same, and I led him to it.

I'm left so deep in thought that I barely register someone is in the room. Jeremy, maybe. Or Stefan, here to check on me. I run my hand through my hair and straighten my shirt, sniffling a little bit. "Hey," I greet the figure.

"What's the matter love?" The voice turns my limbs to ice. A heavy, cold fear starts forming in my stomach. "Why are you crying? Is it because of what I did to Damon?"

I look up and there he is. Grinning cockily at me with his arms crossed. "Klaus." I stand up and try to look unfazed. Klaus is a parasite, I remind myself, he feeds off of fear. "How did you get in here?"

"I can be very creative on how to break in what I want to be, sweetheart," Klaus takes a step towards me, and the way he stands reminds me of a panther stalking it's prey. All muscle-covered limbs and calculating eyes. "I'm here to have a friendly chat with you."

His hand extends slowly, teasingly, and he traces my jawline with his thumb as if I'm the most precious thing in the world to him. Maybe I am. I try not to let on that my body is shaking, but I know he can see it. Klaus is back, back from the_dead_, and he's probably fighting the urge to put a stake through my heart right now. The disturbing things is, I may just let him. "You're supposed to be almost-dead." I reach up and grip his hand, removing it from my face.

Klaus laughs, "I'm one-thousand years old, give me some credit, Elena. I saw this coming and I made the necessary preparations." He flashes me a quick, charming smile, and there's something like hurt hidden in the depths of his face, "I knew you'd be turned the minute I was no longer a threat. I counted on it."

"That's not true -" I supply helplessly, "Stefan wouldn't have -"

"But Damon would've." Klaus shakes his head, "Tsk, tsk, my little doppelganger changes alliances so quickly."

He wants to get under my skin. I will _not_ give him the satisfaction. "If you need something from me, take it." I extend my arms and jerk my chin up. I'm going to die. I'm going to die but I'm going to die with my dignity intact.

Klaus laughs again, loudly, and I half-hope it draws my friends up here. "I need you, love."

My hands drop to my sides and I feel my jaw fall open. He needs what? "_Me_?" I shake my head, "I can't do that." I wave my hands up in the air, "You know I can't do that, not anymore..."

"Oh, but you can, Elena," Klaus purrs, "Bonnie cast a wonderful little spell on the vampire blood -what was her name?" Klaus gives off the vibe that he just can't be bothered to remember anyone trivial, "Meredith, I think it was. Yes, Meredith." He nods his head and I feel my eyes narrow in confusion, "The vampire blood Meredith gave you allows you to produce the _best_kind of blood."

"That's not possible. I'm sired to Stefan, he's just like any other vampire." I blurt it out and then clasp my hands over my mouth. _Shoot. _

Except Klaus doesn't look surprised at all, "No, you're sired directly to me. And Bonnie did something quit shocking to the blood."

"Explain." I choke out, "Explain right now." My fists clench and unclench and the room is _spinning,_ I'm so shocked and confused.

Sired to_Klaus?_

In the hospital when I had collapsed Meredith had asked Jeremy who's blood to use on me. Stefan's or Damon's? Naturally Jeremy had chosen Stefan's blood, and thusly I had died with his blood in my system...

"I've got Bonnie wrapped around my finger, poor thing," Klaus frowns, "All I have to do is threaten one of you and she'll do whatever I ask. It comes at a price, though," Klaus grimaces and I can't help but wonder what price Bonnie made Klaus pay, "but I compelled Meredith to replace all the blood with my own before you even started your master plan to destroy me. She's forgotten all about it completely." Klaus cocks his head and his hands jerk my chin up roughly.

"You're such a pretty little thing," he murmurs, mouth barely above mine, "I'm going to take you along when I leave. We're going to be best of friends," he smiles jovially, "Perhaps we'll take Caroline, too. And you'll be around forever to donate your perfect, dopplevamp blood."

"How-" I interrupt, but Klaus holds up a finger and releases my throbbing jaw.

"It was a very interesting spell to see cast, almost killed Bonnie for good." Klaus's lips curl up in a devilish smile, as if he actually enjoyed the spectacle of Bonnie clinging so frantically to life.

"Burn in hell." I hiss and reach forward to do something, slap him or scratch him or _anything_ to cause him even momentary pain, but he grabs my wrist with ease and crushes me against him.

His eyes burn into mine and I can't look away. They're dark blue pools of secrets. Klaus's eyes are fascinating, holding one-thousand years of experience and no room for anything but revenge. "You will give me blood." He isn't compelling me, but the words drill through my head just the same, "I have to track down Rebekah before I leave so you'll have plenty of time to say your goodbyes. Get to it, love."

He winks at me and releases my wrist. I stumble backwards and watch through the dark curtain of my hair as he ghosts out the window, and disappears into the night.

**xXx**

**Drop a line and tell me whatcha think ;) DAMON POV next chapter!**


	8. In Dreams

**CHAPTER 8! AHHURUGHGUH! :D **

**So I may turn to updating every day...not sure. It depends on what I can get out. Anyway, it's because I have a fantastic new story idea I may want to write. **

**It's about Damon and Elena and the Titanic.**

**Yeah buddy! I'm excited for it! {if i get around to writing it}**

**& anyway, I wanna get to 200 reviews by chapter 11. Can we do it? Is it too much? IDGAF! LETS TRY! **

**Thanks for reading&reviewing :) Continue to do so! I'm going heavy on the Damon, which means the next chapter will probably be Damon too..**

**THIS CHAPTER IS KINDA DARK-ISH. BUT DONT WORRY! I have a REALLY cute scene that was SOO much fun to write coming up for Chapter 9! YOU GUYS ARE GONNA LIKE IT. :) It involves a garden hose, Elena, and Damon. So don't worry, we'll get through this dark patch! **

**xXx**

_Blue_eyes. Her child would have had _blue_eyes. I'm stumbling around in circles in some godforsaken parking lot because Elena Gilbert wants her baby to have blue eyes. I don't know how or when I got this desperate, this whipped, but it's happened.

She's been trying to offer me answers and I'm getting nothing out of it. I'm pretty sure if anyone were to find me right now in this state I would destroy them. Tell them my whole life story and then snap their neck so they take the secret to their grave.

There's no where to go and no one to go to and I'll camp out in this damn parking lot if I have to all night. Maybe remove my daylight ring when the first, shining rays of dawn peak over the horizon.

_First shining rays of dawn._.. I've become a damn poet. Is this what love does to you? Tears you apart and adds some poetic gibberish into your mind while it's at it? It's very Stefan of me, but then again, I'm not even sure who _I _am anymore. I spent a century obsessed with Katherine, and she turned out to be a massive fuck-up, it seems the same goes for Elena too.

Somewhere along the way, I lost myself. The _real _me. The_vampire_ me.

I'm still feeling slightly buzzed from whatever-the-hell was in that drink, and I swear, if it's that Jeremy Gilbert kid I'll be more then happy to break his legs. I feel like causing Elena some pain right now anyway.

-Except judging by the memory of her tear-stained face I've done enough already.

Damn my photogenic memory to hell.

I stop my drunken stumbling and run a hand through my hair. Okay. I got this. I am Damon Salvatore, twenty-five years old, eternal stud, I answer to nobody and nothing. I'm like all sexy things wrapped into one and sexy-things-wrapped-into-one sure as hell don't wander forlornly around in parking lots.

No, they demand some answers.

I jump into my car - the only car parked in this place - and revv the engine. I'm going to the hospital.

xXx

"Damon." Meredith has large bags under her eyes and her heartbeat is struggling to keep up with the rest of her. It's obvious she's had a hard night. "Everything okay?" She frowns at me and I swear to God she's thinking, 'Oh look at the poor vampire! He needs a steaming hot mug of blood!'

She _is _pretty good-looking. A very sexy doctor. Ric did have good taste in women even though he sort of had shitty luck.

I've had time, thanks to the drive, to erase any anguish from my features. The last thing anyone needs is for me to go off on one of my Existential Crisis Quests and screw something up.

"I need you to take some blood." I smirk up at her and play it cool.

_Everything is a-okay Meredithy. No problem whatsoever. Klaus isn't back, nope, and Elena isn't tearing my heart in two anymore. Pfft, so over that girl. _

I guess my smile is going a little haywire because she steps back distrustfully, "Blood from you?" She asks, and I swear, she's using her clipboard as a shield. Yes, cardboard is indeed a formidable opponent, there's no way I'd be able to rip that out of her grasp at all. God, sometimes I swear this town breeds a special kind of stupid.

"Yes, you see," I get up and walk over to her, eyes flaring, "I've been feeling pretty...off."

That's the understatement of the year.

Meredith nods her consent and scurries over to her desk, popping open a drawer and producing a needle the size of my middle finger. I shrug my jacket off and pull up my sleeves like a good boy. Needles always hurt like a motherfucker when I'd get poked with one of my Mom's sewing ones so I wasn't exactly looking forward to this at all.

"Sit down, would you?" She points to her only other seat in her tiny office and I plunk down obediently on it.

"Why aren't you in a sexy little nurse costume?" I raise my eyebrows at her and she makes a tiny snort of disgust.

Since when did my luck with ladies drop so much? Oh - wait, I know. When they got to _know _me.

Meredith stabs me with her weapon of mass destruction and I wince slightly as I feel the pull on my veins. She fills the tube up with my dark red blood and then pulls the needle out of my bicep. She looks rather pleased with herself and I see the silent question in her eyes.

"Oh yeah, yeah, whatever you can keep the blood." I wave her off impatiently, "Let's just pray to God none of your patients suffer from an untimely death." We both know who I'm referring to. The five foot six inch doe-eyed deer-legged traumatized mess of a dopplevamp that's probably sobbing in my brother's arms right now. I can see Stefan quietly spooning more ice cream into his mouth as he suffers the closeness of her body with all the purity of a thousand angels.

"I'll run a test right now. Be right back... Thanks." Meredith bobs her head as if it's the _omgsoawkward-_est thing to say to me. She's halfway to the door and I'm leaning back in the chair, trying not to let her see my sweaty palms or twitchy eyes (post Elena fight syndromes) when she just stops.

"I gave Elena Stefan's blood, you know." Meredith drops the bomb guiltily and my head snaps up. "I had a choice between him or you and I asked Jeremy and Jeremy..."

She shakes her head and doesn't wait for my reaction. Meredith bolts out the door and slams it shut behind her.

Of course. I had suspected that. It's _always _gonna be Stefan. Even when it comes to healing Elena. And this gives me a very legit reason to break Jeremy's legs after all. Meredith should have made the choice herself, or had Elena, even, because you don't just ask that question to a sixteen year old pot-smoking freak.

Although word on the street is that Jeremy quit cold-turkey because I compelled him too.

I'm _still _not convinced.

And I guess it's okay that Elena is sired to Stefan because that just means more power to them. They'll be holding hands and laughing and swinging around in a field of daisies like some sort of goddamn perfume commercial.

I bury my head in my hands and try not to dwell on the fact that I told Elena Gilbert to get over me and also slammed her into the wall a few times. I can't see myself picking her up in a field of flowers after that. I can see her in a lot of dark fantasies, but Elena craves innocence like green things crave light. I'm not sure I can give her that. I'd just as well dye the flowers black and paint storm clouds-

Oh hell no. I will _not _continue down the path of a jilted lover's poetry.

My phone buzzes and I blink as if that'll push my thoughts away, flipping it open without looking at the I.D. because I'm lonely. I'm so fucking lonely I'm may just go out and compel myself a friend. A drinking buddy._Someone. _

"D-Damon?" It's Elena. Son of a bitch. I hit the mute button and shove my phone back into my pocket. I swear if I answered her only to hear her blubbering on the other end of the phone I'd come running back there, all simpering eyes and wagging-tail. Hell, I'd probably pick up a box of blood-filled chocolates on the way there just to prove that I'm really, truly sorry.

Except for maybe the first time in my life I'm not exactly really, truly sorry. Just really, truly broken. For the _last _time. The future is all wrapped up in a pretty little bow: Jack goes down with the fucking ship, Rhett leaves Scarlett, and Brutus stabs Caesar with a knife._Et tu, Elena and Stefan?_

Suddenly Meredith bursts back into the room and sets her clipboard down on the desk with a loud clatter, rubbing a hand over her tired face and looking at me with those dark eyes of hers. Jesus Christ, she scares the shit out of me sometimes. It's not like we've ever disproved my theory that she's slightly crazy. I smile at her quite normally, as if my train hasn't flown right off the rails. "How bad is it?"

Meredith rubs her hands together and offers me a small smile. Aww, thanks Meredith, looks like you can see I've been having a bad day - no,_century_, too. "You had an allergic reaction to vervain and some substance I've never seen before."

"An allergic reaction?" the_fuck? _ Vampires don't _have_ allergic reactions. And I'm pretty sure I've been _very_ good with my regimen: blood everyday, some form of whiskey everyday, bone-crushing loss every other day...

"Yeah," Meredith shakes her head, "I can't explain it Damon."

"'Course you can't," I smile at her, feigning understanding, "You're just a poky little doctor after all."

Meredith shoots me a look and I plunge right on forward, "Give me a call when you can reference me to somebody who knows what's going on."

I don't even thank her. Why should I? It's like all of the sudden I expect myself to be polite. Ha ha ha. That's a really good joke, Damon. I throw open her office door a bit more roughly then needed and stalk away down the halls. I'm even so evil as to snag myself a quickie with a cute nurse on my way out.

I can see Elena's face now, all purple with indignation, her mouth full of bullshit like, 'What's wrong with you?' and 'Why are you so bad?'

I don't know, Elena, maybe because of _you._

xXx

Stefan plunks down next to me at the Grill.

My grip tightens around my cup and I don't even spare him a glance. Chances are he has some cue cards in his pocket so he can perfectly rehearse his 'Why'd you hurt Elena' speech. No doubt he dotted his 'i's with hearts and framed the cue card with E+S running around the rims.

I'd come to this place straight after the rendezvous with Amber - or was her name _Ashley?_- it was something along those lines, I don't know. I even managed to cast Elena out of my head just long enough to find some form of _enjoyment_ in it. I had been spent afterwards, which explains why I'd come to the Grill. I swear a tear is about to roll down my eyes and it has nothing to do with Klaus or Elena or Kol's bat. It has everything to do with Stefan not being Alaric. I'm just so fucking sick of everyone else.

"I know I'm the last person you wanna see," Stefan says slowly, in that uber-mature, all-knowing way he has. I briefly allow myself to imagine the possibility breaking off a bar stool leg and running him through with it. Everybody used to love walking on eggshells around me and now it seems like the Free Will Brigade has decided they're going to annoy the hell out of me every chance they get.

"Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner." I say soberly and take a small sip of my drink.

"-But Elena came downstairs and told me you had left. She seemed pretty shaken." I hate Stefan even more in that moment because my angelic brother doesn't even have a speck of jealously or suspicion in his voice. He's just purely trying to help Elena out. It makes me borderline ashamed of myself for throwing such massive hissyfits in the past when ever Stefan and Elena appeared to grow closer.

"Yes, I know." I shake my head, "And thanks to you, she'll have forever to come to terms with it."

"What'd you say to her, Damon?" Stefan's voice is low, lower then usual, and he reaches out to grip my shoulder. I jerk away hastily. Nuh uh. I don't think so. No way am I going to allow Stefan to think that we are anywhere _near _ back to normal. I'd still love to see him take a swim in a vervain-filled pool.

"I told her I was leaving as soon as we got this Klaus mess cleaned up." Well, it's as honest as I want to be. I'm not going to include the part where I smashed her into a wall or how I kissed her like no-tomorrow. Excuse me, but I don't think Stefan needs to know. He may go off the hook again. And as much as I love Ripper Steffie, I don't love Ripper Steffie & Elena Gilbert together. Elena would try to tame him, armed with tales of rainbows and unicorns and everlasting love, and there wouldn't be shit I could do to stop him from becoming King-Kong II.

"I would understand why she'd be upset." Stefan nods sagely. Except unlike everyone else, I don't believe sparks of wisdom, knowledge and truth come out of his ass.

"Why don't you just go back home and listen to your Celine Dion CD? I _know _you have one." Seriously, he does. I've seen it. I don't know if it's guilty pleasure or secret but he has a fucking_Celine Dion_ CD.

Stefan only laughs and shakes his head. It's so like Stefan to not be fazed by my little insults.

"I'm also not coming home. I'll just camp out somewhere and be there when you need me. Always a phone call away." I slam my phone on the counter, causing a pretty redhead to jump slightly. Yep, I'm losing it.

"Don't be a psycho, Damon." Stefan growls, and there's real worry in his voice.

"Well, I talked to the psycho part of me, and he said he wants to make an appearance." I cock my head and make my eyes go comically wide, "What? Oh, yeah. Hey, he wants to talk to you." I squint at Stefan, "he says 'get the fuck out of my face before I cut off your toes.'"

Stefan slides off the barstool and shrugs. I can almost hear the gell in his hair crack stiffly at the movement. "As usual you are a pinnacle of maturity." He sighs heavily and pushes his chair back to the bar.

"I try." I go back to staring at the lovely array of gin and whiskey on the other side of the counter. Dudley Doright makes once last attempt at speaking - but thankfully stops himself- and leaves me in peace.

xXx

I fall exhausted onto Alaric's old bed. I feel shitfaced drunk. I could have had two girls wrapped around me like a pretzel by now but it just didn't seem worth it. After Mother Teresa left me alone I'd lost all psycho drive. I'd sat there on the stool very complacent, very docile, just sipping away like some possessed drunkard.

Hastily I shrug my button-down off and throw it into some dark corner of Alaric's room. I have no where else to crash. I am sure as hell not going back to the boarding house where I'll be most likely confronted with Elena's tear-stained face, _more _bad news, and the second coming of Ghandi (i.e., Stefan.)

Even so, this place is full of ghosts. Alaric's got his teaching schedule for the second semester on his nightstand, hastily scribbled notes dotting here and there. He's got a picture of Isobel, too. _The pack rat._ I see a photo of him and Jenna on the wall looking all in love and so happy to be together. The real kicker is I'm in the background, talking to someone. I think it's Elena. I jump off the bed and take the picture down from the wall. Look at me, acting like a teenage boy after his very first break up. It's like 1862 all over again when Maybelle Tiskew didn't allow me to escort her to some meaningless ball.

Guess what? She went with Stefan instead. This was before Katherine. I can assure you, Maybelle was the better choice by far. I would be dead in the ground, happily married to her older sister. Stefan would be beside me, happily married to Maybelle.

Before I get all sentimental and shit and start rolling around in the bed sheets sobbing, I lay back down and think soothing thoughts. Stefan with a stake in his ass, Alaric still alive, Elena not making stupid decisions that led me to this...

Counting sheep would be a_lot _ less emotionally exhausting, but hey, I'm not a lot-less-emotionally-exhausting kind of guy.

The dreams I have when I finally _do _doze off are off the wall. Elena and I are both human, we're human and we're happy and hell, we even attend Sunday mass. We've got three kids, one with beautiful brown eyes and the other two with blue ones like mine. We're both running around to some sort of Family-Movie soundtrack and we look ridiculously good together. I don't look eternally pissed and bitter, and Elena doesn't look tired and sad. And there's not a drop of blood to be seen in our large, open house. It's so damned domestic I feel like my dream-self should have baked a pie or bought a dog or something.

The real kicker was when Uncle Stefan came through the doors, our kids all tripping over eachother to reach him. Elena looked at Stefan like a close friend, and she looked at me like her do-gooder, all-round great guy husband. I saw the ring on her finger.

Believe me when I tell you that Elena has starred in a_lot_ of my dreams, just not fully dressed and 100% housewife. This dream was different. It was _innocent_. It was_pure_.

It was a nightmare.

Because after every horrifyingly happy image after horrifyingly happy image, I realized I was just like Stefan. My brain's a bitch, obviously, because it took some time for me to figure out that the Damon Salvatore in this dream was the _Stefan Salvatore _in real life, and "Uncle Stefan" had some nasty, secret habits that went very well with the _me_ in real life.

And if there's one thing I can't do - _won't _do - it's be like Stefan.

**xXx**

**How did you like it? :) Review please!**


	9. Gardening

**Alright guys! Chapter 9! I really like this chapter & I hope you do too! :)**

**Any questions you have about this chapter just leave em in a review form & i'll get back to ya!**

**PLEASE review! YOU KNOW YOU WANNA!**

**xXx**

I had an extremely restful night last night.

Okay, I lied. I had a dream that drove me insane and I woke up in a cold sweat. I mean any dream that involves me turning into Stefan is automatically classified as a nightmare.

I knew I had to check in with base camp to see if there was any news about Klaus and I was dreading it. Dreading it to the very marrow of my bones. I grabbed a quick bite to eat out of some lonely thirty-something divorcee and then hit the road to the Boarding House. Hopefully only Stefan and Katherine would be there and I could get the low-down from them both. Preferably_ just _Katherine.

Pulling up into the driveway I was feeling anything but normal.

Imagine my surprise to see a certain long-haired brunette girl all decked up in a gardening outfit watering the front flowers with a hose. She looked completely normal and peaceful aside from the grim set of her mouth. I figured it was Katherine - Elena had no daylight ring, dammit - so I mentally braced myself for the extremely bad puns coming my way and slipped out of my car.

"Hey, Katherine!" I shouted at her. This is great. Maybe I won't even have to walk inside the boarding house! It'll be all rainbows and sunshine and I can just scoot back to my dark, dark hole in the wall and never, _ever _have to face Elena again!

A stream of icy cold water hits me right in the face. I stumble backwards, blinking the water out of my eyes, feeling the numbness drip down my chest. It caused me to squirm around uncomfortably like some demented Irish jigger. "What the he-"

"It's Elena." Her voice is full of coldness. I'm pretty sure that girl could freeze something into a monumental glacier just with her death glare.

"Elena?" My stomach drops. Oh no. Oh please God no. Oh _hell _ no. An angry vampire Elena with a hose. Forget about my nightmare last night. _This _is my worst nightmare. "How are you out-"

"Katherine acted up last night, we threw her in the dungeon, _without _your help -" I blink back more water and I can see Elena crossing her arms. She's wearing a yellow apron and gardening gloves, complete with a dorky, flowered hat. She looks like some sort of clip-out from an L. magazine. And she looks pissed. "-anyway, I wanted to get out, so I took her daylight necklace."

"Oh she'll love that," I roll my eyes and try to bite back the happy laugh that's making it's way to the surface. There's something almost fun about standing out here shivering with a toughened-up Elena. Garden hose, ridiculous outfit, uncomfortably soaked shirt and all. "You don't have to put the hose in my fa-"

Another stream of icy cold water right on my groin that causes me to yelp and stumble back more paces. I zip quickly out of the way and end up leaning against my car. I swear my dick is about to freeze right off. I grab at my pants and jump around like I'm a nine-year old who has to pee. "Elena, put that thing down!" I snap at her.

"Why are you even here?" Elena narrows her eyes and I can see it: hurt. She's hurt. I'm hurt. She has the garden hose, I don't. I know how these things go down.

"Why are you out here gardening like some sort of domestic goddess?" I spit back, dabbing my pants with the dryer part of my shirt. I'm debating just taking my shirt off right now and tying it around the damp spot on my pants but no, that'd be way too Jacob of me.

"Stefan and I decided to start a flower garden," Elena raises her eyebrows but never takes her eyes off the just-planted flower buds. She's drowning them in the water. Literally, those poor flowers aren't blooming anytime soon - they're too busy stuck in watery mud.

-For health reasons I don't point that out. "Couples therapy?" I ask, all innocent-eyes and water droplets dripping down my face from a previous attack. Despite the stab of anger running through me that she rebounded so damn fast - with a _flower _garden - it's still pretty fun being out here with her.

Oh shit. _Shit_. Wrong thing to say. I'm bombarded with more frigid droplets hitting my face. I plow through the icy coldness and go inhumanely fast to the wheel that turns off the hose. With one, fluid moment it's off, and Elena is left with nothing but a tiny trickle of water sliding down the opening.

She pulls a pouty face when she looks at me, her eyes going up and down the length of my soaked figure. I shake my long-ish hair out like a dog and set my hands on my hips. "I take it you rallied after last night." I send her a cheeky grin.

"Oh, I rallied," Elena mumbles, "When I realized I didn't have very long anyway." Her eyes flit to mine ominously and I can't help but wonder what doom-and-gloom scenario she's got planned out. All I know is if she was planning on ending herself she wouldn't be out here starting a damn flower garden and stealing Katherine's daylight necklace.

But because I'm a pussy, and yeah, I'm a strong believer in irony I say: "Don't talk like that," and duck into the house before she can see my face.

-I run smack into Elijah.

Elijah looks me up and down and it's no surprise he's wearing that I-see-a-half-drowned-rat look all over his face. He pulls on the coat sleeves of his suit and pats his hair down as if my very presence may threaten to ruin his outfit. Hell, maybe it will. My jeans feel pretty heavy and their sliding off my hips. I'm hoisting them up like a damn idiot in front the Original and he's got his eyebrows raised, just watching me do it.

"So-" I pull hard on my jeans, Elena is so getting a knife to the stomach for this one - "What're you doing -" I get my jeans back in place and pray they stay there. "what are you doing here?" Alright, I look good. My cross my arms and try to ignore the fact that about two thousand gallons of hose water is dripping off of me.

Elijah laughs - no, Elijah doesn't laugh - he chuckles in amusement. "Came to speak with you. Elena giving you trouble?"

"You could say that." I raise my eyebrows and oh dear, I'm smiling. Because I like when Elena gets this way. It's fun and feisty and so unlike the little drip Stefan gets to see all the time.

"You should reconcile while you can, my brother Niklaus won't be kind when he returns." Elijah looks all dark and foreboding and shit and I just would give anything to have a movie soundtrack playing right now, it'd fit him so well.

"'_Niklaus'_ isn't on my radar," I shrug, "Elena's a vampire, so what's he gonna do, seek revenge?" I smirk at him - And then I stop; because oh shit, oh shit, that's exactly what he's going to do. Elijah must see my eyes popping out of my head because his face gets even more broody, if that's possible.

"I'm on your side now, Niklaus is a menace, but we are family, and I won't help you kill my brother. You're on your own for this one." Elijah straightens his jacket for like, what? the millionth time since I've met him? and ghosts out of the front door. I'm left there dripping on the expensive rug, hoping that Elena wasn't listening in on -

"Damon?" It's Elena. God. I knew I was wrong to even hope.

"Uh, yeah?" I turn around and more water gets in my eyes. Dammit. I blink them back, my eyes focusing on a very beautiful Elena. My mind is going in all sorts of directions, like how soon can I get that cute gardening apron off of her, and how fast can we make it upstairs -

"I heard what Elijah said - and it's true. I called you about it..." Elena slips her gloves off her hands and walks up to me. I flinch.

_Don't touch me. Don't touch me don't touch me._I swear if I feel her soft little fingertips graze my arm I'll have her bent over a piece of furniture in five seconds flat. Fuck severing all relations with her. Fuck being noble.

She notices I flinch and goddamn, I'm a pussy, but I just can't be taking risks. Instead Elena's mouth hangs open and I can see that she wants to say something. "Sorry for spraying you with the hose." She ducks her head down and grinds her foot into the carpet. I quickly shut my mouth, realizing it was open.

"That's - uh, that's okay." Actually it's not. I liked this shirt. My _pants_ are sliding off.

"But Elijah is right, we need to get past what happened last night." Elena raises her head and it looks like she's about to give a Presidential speech. It's so like her, to treat any big moment with me like a business deal, "We need to enjoy the remainder of time we have together. I'm going work on my relationship with Stefan, and _we'll _work on our _friendship._"

Our_ friendship_? Uh, no. I was going to get the hell out of town as soon as I figured Klaus was not a threat. And what does she mean 'the remainder of our time together?'

"Elena, Stefan and I aren't going to let the big bad Klaus get you," I chide at her, wanting for all the damn world to chuck her chin or tuck that stray piece of brown hair behind her ear. But I won't.

Elena bites her lip, "I know." She says in a quiet voice, and I can tell by the way she's nervously fiddling her fingers she suspects otherwise. I also can tell when she's holding something in. Elena Gilbert knows something that she hasn't told anyone.

I open my mouth to ask her _how, why, what, where,_ but she plows forward, drowning out the beginning of my sentence, "You wanna watch Lion King?"

Lion Ki - what? What the hell?_Lion King_?

I'm making all these strangled noises in the back of my throat because of all the questions Elena would ask me she asks me if I want to watch Lion King. And yeah, I've seen it - like once - and I felt incredibly stupid the whole time through. Finally, I manage to choke out, "With Stefan?"

"No, just me and you. Stefan is out looking into that drug thing you had yesterday night." Elena walks past me - smelling like roses and flowers and O negative blood - and breezes into the couch cushions. "I went home today earlier and got my favorite movies. I miss being who I used to be and -" she lets out a breath, "I wanted to get back in touch with it."

"Did the former you watch Lion King and have an angry great-great-great-great-great-great -" My eyes raise to the ceilings and I try to pin-point exactly how old Katherine is, "great-great-great grandmother in the basement?" Seriously, she sounds pissed. I can hear her zipping around in the dungeon downstairs.

Elena narrows her eyes, "Yeah, the thing is, Katherine put the drug in your drink but it was meant for me -" I widen my eyes and sit down on the couch next to her, wet clothes and all, and try to really pay attention to what she's saying, "It would've caused me to pass out or something, because I was a new vampire, but you're older and stronger -" the way her eyes flit over my biceps has me all for totally boycotting Lion King and finding other ways to pass our time, "so anyway you got in the way of Klaus's plan to intoxicate me or something along those lines and now Stefan has Katherine in the dungeon and he's out looking for Klaus."

Katherine drugged my drink. Klaus was trying to get Elena. And Stefan is out looking for Klaus. Elena is sitting perfectly relaxed on the couch moments after asking me to watch the fucking _Lion King_. _Something _ is wrong here. So very, very wrong.

Elena must notice that I'm sitting rigid and unmoving, trying to process all this bullshit, and I cast her a worried glance. Maybe she's lost it. Maybe I pushed her over the edge last night and she's in this state of zen-calm-limbo- _whatever _ you wanna call it.

"I'm not worried for Stefan anymore, Damon, he'll be fine. He knows how to handle Klaus." Elena shakes her head and selects Lion King from the pile of DVD's on my coffee table. She's off the couch and sliding it in the DVD player in a swift movement that surprises me. Normally new vampires don't move with such grace. It takes practice, you know, to be so damn perfect at zooming around. Elena falls back into the couch next to me - careful to keep her distance - and my lower right eyelid twitches as BAAA ZABEN YAA starts playing on a quiet volume.

Elena appears to be deeply engrossed in the birth of Simba and I have no idea what I'm doing here on this couch, soaking wet, with a two clearly insane women in the same house and my brother, that freakin' white knight, off saving the world without me.

"Elena, you're not right in the head," I cock my head at her and flare my eyes, "Seriously your boyfriend is out there and Katherine is downstairs and Klaus is trying -"

"I know, Damon, I know, but I can't do anything about it, okay? I have to sit here and wait. So that's what I'm gonna do." Elena waves me off and goes back to watching Mufasa and Sarabi looking like two very smug and proud parents.

"You're not gonna try to, I don't know, bolt through the window? Make a deal with somebody dangerous?" My mind is flashing back to all the times human Elena did something totally life-threatening and I'd have to save her - in all her kicking and screaming glory - from a premature death.

Elena sighs, giving up on ignoring me, and turns to face me. Finally! A sign of emotion! Even though it's annoyance, but hey, I'll take anything at this point. I'm poking her with an invisible stick.

"No, Damon, I'm not. I'm going to sit here and be friends with you and wait for my boyfriend to come home and there is nothing wrong at all." She sits so prim and virginal in her little white top, hands in her lap, eyes wide and innocent. I'm not buying this crap at all. But I let out a breathy sigh of surrender because hell, this is as close as a normal night with Elena I'll ever get. Who am I to stop it? She's with me, she's safe, and my baby bro and Klaus always had some sort of weird_ bromance _going on anyway. If we're going to impersonate that everything's cool between us, and then alright, bring it on.

So for a while everything is perfect, albeit the boiling sexual tension, we're fine. Elena and I sit quietly through the movie keeping our hands to ourselves, and my tortured, tiny heart can almost handle it.

Almost.

xXx

He's asleep on the couch. I've never seen Damon sleep. I sit there long after the credits ended to our third movie and just watch him. His chest rises and falls like a natural human being would. Damon looks young, alive, but his heart has nearly stopped with his resting. His lips are slightly parted and his eyelashes graze the tops of his cheekbones.

I'm pretty sure I'm falling even more in love with him.

My phone buzzed about fifteen minutes ago, Stefan texted me, announcing he would be 'home soon' and that 'it went well.' It's bittersweet. I know whatever Klaus told him was a lie - he'll be coming for me - and this time I'm not running. Tyler and Bonnie deserve to come home and me? Well, I deserve whatever is coming to me.

As for Damon I figured it would be best if I just complied to what he wanted. Left him alone and treated him like a friend and just forgot about everything between us. The memory of his hand so tightly clenched around my shoulder has only reminded me how dangerous Damon is, how you can only push him too far because he starts pushing back. I promised myself it would be nothing but smooth sailing from here...

Even so I lean over his still form and kiss his cheek, "Goodnight Damon," I whisper, my breath grazing his skin, and he twitches.

I feel my lips curling up in a smile as I slid off the couch, taking a blanket with me, up to Stefan's room. I should be there for when he gets back. With a deep breath I don't even need anymore, I climb the stairs, and I don't look back. God, it's one of the hardest things to do. What if Klaus should take me tonight? It's already late. What if that - right there on the couch - was the last time I would have anything to do with Damon Salvatore?

Before I know it I'm flying up the stairs just so that I don't throw myself down on the couch back with him.

**xXx**

**Alright babes, review time! **


	10. Home Is Wherever You Are

**AYO! So here is Chap 10! **

**FOR ANY OF YOU WHO ARE WANTING ELENA TO FIGHT FOR DAMON DONT YOU WORRY! WE ARE GETTIN TO THAT! I have five more chapters to go and hopefully they will cover and wrap up everything I've promised in this fic. So be patient...in the words of Damon, "I'll get you there..." ;)**

**As always, please please please please review! Gahh. I'm sure a lot of you know how awesome it is to recieve a review and see your story grow in popularity.**

**Ya'll know how much I love writing for you guys :) **

**xXx**

**"Doesn't mean I'm over, cuz you're gone..."**

**~Stronger, Kelly Clarkson.**

**xXx**

I wasn't expecting him to come for me so soon.

Stefan had gotten home and I'd been waiting up for him in his room. He'd sighed, looking more tired then ever, and said that Klaus had only told him to watch his back. Like the good little girlfriend I was, I nodded thoughtfully, and we both decided it would be best if we set up safety nets. Some sort of system of precaution should Klaus act up. It wasn't until Stefan casually mentioned that Bonnie and Tyler were to be set free by tomorrow and that Rebekah was lurking around the Original's manor when I understood...

Tonight. He was going to take me tonight.

The minute Stefan had fallen asleep I'd raided his bookstand for a stacks of paper and a pencil; and set to writing letters. Two bags of B positive blood later, I'd completed them. A letter to Stefan. A letter to Damon. A letter to Bonnie. A letter to Caroline. A letter to Jeremy. I even included a letter to Matt - to wish him well in his recovery and to state that no matter what, I would never regret my choice to save him first.

It was Damon's letter I had really agonized about. Stefan's had come quickly, flowing, all confessions that I had to say to him were written in that envelope. Damon's was tricky. There was so much to say and to apologize for...how I met him first, how I should have picked him, how I _would_ pick him now...to be honest, chances were, I would have fought for him tooth and nail. But fate has other plans...

All my letters ended with "I love you" but one of them. Damon's.

_'If I ever see you again I will tell you what you've been waiting to hear for so long...but not like this, not on paper. It should come straight from my mouth. Just know that my love for you consumes me. And I want it to. I want you and maybe one day...you'll want me back too.'_

Maybe it was a longshot, but I figured I'd have an eternity to find my way back to him. Surely Klaus would get bored with me after a decade or two...

"Have all your letters ready, love?" Klaus's voice brushes against my ear and I jerk forward in my chair, my pencil flying out of my hand.

"Klaus," My eyes fly to my hastily packed duffle bag and my heart picks up a sickening 'crunch crunch' sound. For a split second I'm opening my mouth to scream, to wake Damon up from his spot on the couch, to snap Stefan out of his slumber, anything to delay the inevitable.

-But I close my mouth, because everyone has been brave for me, and now it's my turn.

"I found 'Bekah," Klaus shuts the door to the Salvatore study with a quiet 'click' and turns back to me, hands in his pockets, "She's agreed to come along. Won't that be nice?" He cocks his head at me in pure sadistic joy, as if he finds this a giant joke.

I stand up abruptly from my chair and hoist the duffle over my shoulders, "Can we just leave, please?" Surprisingly, my voice doesn't waver. They'll find the letters. They'll read them. All my loose ends will be tied - fingers crossed, anyway.

"You packed, how cute," Klaus obviously wants to drag this out as long as possible, and damn, I think I may let him. My feet don't want to walk myself out of this house. My heart is in the other room with a dark, sleeping boy, and Klaus knows it. He knows this is sweet torture for me.

"Yeah, I packed, and we need to go now." The more we wait the more I'm seriously debating making a run for it.

"Why the hurry? If your lovers wake up they can be dealt with. Or should I just say _Damon_?" Klaus is in my face in one fluid movement, hands roughly gripping my chin like a child's. He raises it, and I hate myself for letting a few wet tears spill onto my cheeks. Not the best time to look weak, Elena. "I can compel them, you know," he says quietly, eyes searching mine, and if he wasn't such a monster I may just believe he actually cares, "to forget about you. To forget about all of this."

I wrench myself from his grasp and stumble backwards, breathing heavily. He's messing with me. He would never do that. _Would _he? Would I let him? I shake my head, trying to clear my thoughts, and Klaus's face looks bemused.

"Alright, I take it you want them to pine after you forever, so be it." He shrugs and extends his left hand toward me, "Take my hand, Elena."

Compulsion. I can feel it rattling my bones. My _teeth_. Compulsion for a vampire is a painful experience - that much I've figured out. The need to take his hand is like no other, stronger then love, stronger then blood. I reach forward feverishly and grip his hand - and find relief.

And in the next moment, he's got his arm wrapped around my waist as he shoves me into a dark car. Somebody (Rebekah?) presses hard on the gas pedal and I watch, dazed, as trees fly by me, and the Salvatore Boarding house fades from view.

My hands are pressed against the window and tears are falling more freely then ever down my cheeks - but I turn and face him. _Klaus_. The man who took everything from me. He took _everything _ from me...

"You didn't win," I say quietly, "Because Bonnie and Tyler are safe now." I jerk my chin up and give him the mental middle finger - because in the end, he didn't. He hasn't won. Bonnie weakened him in some way as payback for being forced to cast the spell on my blood and therefore, he didn't leave without a scratch for his battles. Tyler has been returned to Caroline and maybe, just maybe, Damon can find solace in that fact. _Highly_ unlikely, but I dream.

Klaus only shakes his head, "Oh, but Elena, I did. Your friends may be safe now, but it seems as if two rather..._desperate_," he says the word like he taste it, like it's the most delicious thing to utter, "vampires will kill themselves over loosing you. Your merry little band will fall to pieces and _that _ is where I win, Elena."

I don't say anything. I just go back to staring out the window. My emotions and feelings are too mangled and tragic for me to touch, so I let them fester underneath the surface. The worst part of being immortal? it really is a _never ending _nightmare.

xXx

Klaus shoves me into the hotel room and I sniff irritably. It's dusty and dank and there's a weird, foreign smell clinging to the carpets. Rebekah trails in behind, looking bored for the most part, but the way she warily eyes Klaus tells me that she's been beaten into submission like the rest of us.

I should be mad at Rebekah, she started this mess upon a mess, but I'm not. I just feel..._sorry_ for her.

"We're catching a plane tomorrow morning to Brazil," Klaus throws a travel brochure my way and I stare down at it numbly. Happy tan bikini models frolic on a white-sand beach. A cute family walks along the shoreline. Happy pictures, happy descriptions. And yet I feel like I'm being sentenced to hell.

"Oh really Nik?" Rebekah rolls her eyes, "_Brazil_?"

"Shut up, Rebekah," Klaus snaps at her and she takes a step back, clearly not anticipating the sudden outburst, "We'll have a thousand lifetimes over to go wherever you want to go. You too, sweetheart." Klaus nods in my direction and I feel sick. Dead inside. They say when you make a heroic sacrifice for the betterment of a whole you feel fulfilled and right in your choices - but this feels _wrong_, so _wrong_.

"I'd like to go home." I say quietly, and the brochure is trembling in my hands.

"You can, dear, in about one hundred years your lovely boys will be gone." Klaus's fingers are on my cheek and I slap them off viciously. Every word he says stings with the reminder that I gave up. And sweet surrender should be _nothing _like this.

Rebekah unzips one of the many duffles and to my horror produces an empty blood bag and a siphon-like tube. "Let's get to it, shall we, Nik?" She eyes me like a bug she wants to squash, voice cold like her eyes.

With a cry of protest Rebekah's got my arms held down on the chair in a vice grip, viciously plunging the tube into my arm. I twist and arch and writhe in feeble attempt to get the hell away from her, but she only watches with pleasure as the tube fills up with red and drips into the bag.

Klaus suddenly swats her away, relieving the pressure and looking down at me worriedly, "Now, now, what would Caroline and the boys say to me if I were to hurt you?" His voice is whisper soft as his hands run over my sore wrists. I'm too weak to resist his comforting efforts.

I close my hands and let the blood drain out of me.

I almost allow myself to hope I die in the process.

xXx

I haven't read my envelope. _God fucking hell_ she left us all little note cards. The first thing I did when I saw the lovely white envelope with my name written in Elena's pansy cursive was to shove it deep into my jacket pocket and pretend it wasn't there. Stefan, of course, ripped his open - and ha, payback's a bitch, because he didn't like what he read. He won't tell me what the fuck she wrote but I guess it can't be too good. He's all but thrown himself in a sack cloth and ran around without his daylight ring on.

We aren't dealing too well at all. I've thrown a couple of Ric's precious things around in his - now deemed _my_ - apartment. I don't have diddly dick on which direction Elena went. Everyone is begging me to open up the envelope because 'maybe she put the location in there!' but please, don't get me started on why Elena wouldn't let _me _ of all people know where she's going.

She's smart enough to know I would haul her ass right back from wherever the one-woman Martyr Brigade went, probably with a tourist hat and some souvenir key chains while I'm at it.

The first day after her appearance is a whirlwind of hell. We all group into my apartment -except for Katherine, whose still in the dungeon thinking on why she should _never_ side with the enemy - and sit there like gutted fish. I guess we just want to be close to eachother for 'support' or shit. _ I_ sure as hell want them all out. Excuse me, I wish to grieve alone, maybe break a few more mementos, down a couple more drinks.

"Maybe she went with Klaus." Jeremy suggests, and we all look at eachother with wide-eyes, because no shit Sherlock, of _course _she did. Klaus is gone - so is Elena. It's not hard to put the pieces together.

"The question is where?" Bonnie sits next to Jeremy. She arrived with Tyler on our door front in the early morning hours. Best part? There was like a metaphorical bow wrapped around each of them. A little gift from Klaus. Bonnie is drained of her powers and she can't remember a-fucking-thing except that Klaus is weakened in some way. And Tyler? Oh god. Don't get me started. Tyler and Caroline are all but dry humping eachother every chance they get. Besides, the mutt can't remember anything either.

"Maybe if you had held onto your sanity during your stay at A La Casa DeKlaus we would know that, witchy." I snark at her from my perch on Ric's counter tops. God help me, I'm going to murder them all. The world could use a little less stupidity.

"Damon," Stefan warns in a low tone. Ooh. He means business. I smile at him in a particularly nasty way and turn my attention elsewhere. Like, the window. Like, I wanna jump out of this room. Like, right now.

"Okay," Caroline holds her hands up in front of her head and shakes her hair, "We need a witch with power to cast a locator spell."

"Can't," Bonnie shrugs, "We'd need personal items of both Klaus and Elena, plus anyone else who left with them. Since we don't know of anything Klaus left behind that he owns, and Rebekah may very well be with him..." Bonnie trails off and shakes her head sadly. Oh, poor little teenage witch, so lost and alone without her magic.

"Uh," Caroline chews on her nail, "We could do it the old-fashioned way. Ya know, drop by, ask Elijah where he may be..." She's pacing the room now, twirling her hands like she's stuck in cheerleading mode, Tyler nodding approvingly in the background.

"Like Elijah is going to tell us." I mutter darkly.

"He would!" Jeremy stands up, all passionate teenage angst, "That's my sister. We have to do something!"

"We're working on it!" Stefan growls.

"Anybody knows Klaus's license plate number?" Tyler jerks his head in my direction and crosses his arms like that's supposed to intimidate me, "How 'bout you, bitch? Did you memorize it while you over there banging his sister?"

It takes all I have not to fly across this damn room and end that boy. Sadly, should his compulsion wear off, he may be useful. "She was over at my place." I shrug my shoulders, "And no, Klaus is smarter then that. He doesn't own a car. He just car-hops." I do little bunny motions with my hands to illustrate to Tyler in case he's too dim to comprehend my lingo, "Maybe you can sniff him out before I _neuter _you?"

Tyler opens his mouth to retort but Caroline throws up her hands in warning, "Tyler!" she snaps, and he grumbles something before falling back into his corner of the room. Wow, he really _is _ Caroline's bitch. "I don't think that's a bad idea, Damon," she goes on primly, "If Tyler can catch Klaus's scent whose to say it won't start us off somewhere?"

"So what?" I throw my hands up exasperated, "You wanna fetch Tyler a pair of Klaus's tidy whiteys and have him sniff down a highway until a car hits him and ... he _doesn't _die?"

Personally if Tyler wasn't immortal I'd be all for sending him down that road with his nose in the asphalt. Might be fun to watch.

"Okay," Stefan gets up and stalks to the middle of the room, "I got it."

"What?" We all ask him collectively. I swear I can see a detective hat on top of my baby bro's head, he's in a zone right now, a _I've-got-to-find-Elena-before-Damon _ zone.

"Klaus carries cargo with him - coffins, to be exact. _Esther's_ coffin. We need a locator spell for Esther. Would that work, Bonnie?" He turns to Bonnie, who nods slowly, looking hopeful. Alright, so I was wrong, the witch is a wealth of Witchy 101 and not _entirely _ useless without her powers.

"Yeah, it would."

Damn. Stef is smart today. He must have really rubbed his two brain cells together hard for that.

And good. We have a plan. Everybody starts talking at once, setting the plan into motion, planning various things out, working out ways to find Esther's DNA and Elijah and Kol's name repeatedly popping up. By the end of the night, we have something set in motion. We're all damn exhausted though, so we agree to regroup after two or three hours of shuteye. Except for Jeremy. Poor guy needs about nine or ten to function. Being human and all.

After everybody leaves there's a heavy feeling in my chest. Why would Elena leave with the Original Jackass? Not tell anyone? Hell, I'd write a book on things I'd tell people before I'd got stolen away. Most of the things would consist of 'you suck' and 'I hate you' but, I digress. I sit there broodily in a way that would have made Edward Cullen proud - and then reach for the letter nestled in my pocket.

_Okay Salvatore, you can do this, you can read this. Don't be such a sorry son of a bitch._

I unfold the envelope and scan the first line.

_Damon..._

_xXx_

**Review time! **


	11. Letters

**Short chapter! I'm sorry I've been dead for the last couple of days! A LOT of stuff to do! **

**This one will be a little rough, I guess, I just really wanted to get it out to you.**

**Can we hit 200 reviews by Chapter 12/13?**

**Hope you enjoy! Even if I'm biting my nails over here…**

_xXx_

_Damon,_

_I've done you wrong. A lot. Too many times to count, really. This whole time I've been with Stefan. I've been with Stefan even when I had feelings for you, and that's wrong._

_I chose him that night because everything was uncertain, and when I thought 'safety', I thought of your brother. I was wrong. I'm not safe with him. I'm not going to deny that there will always be a part of me that will love your brother - just not like before. _

_When I became a vampire I knew that I would have forever with Stefan - and I didn't want it. I can't do forever with Stefan. We aren't made for forever. The memories I recovered at my transition only confused me more. _

_I'm leaving with Klaus because it's the right thing to do. You would fight for me, now I'm fighting for you. I hope you can understand, though you probably won't. I know you won't. I know you, Damon. I know you and you know me and that's where safety is. You're the safest love I can have. You fight for me, I'll fight for you. Somehow there's safety in all that danger, you saw it once when I was caught up in Stefan, and now I see it, too._

_If I ever see you again I'll tell you what you've been waiting to hear for so long, but not like this, not on paper. It should come straight from my mouth. Just know that my love for you consumes me. And I want it to. I want you and maybe one day you'll want me back too._

_Don't try and save me, you'll only get yourself killed, and I'd never forgive you for that if you did._

_Elena._

I'm holding the piece of paper and my hands are shaking because all I can think is _bullshit_. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. I am _not _ reading this, this did _not _ happen. I'm two seconds away from running out this door and searching for her the old fashioned way. Fuck waiting for Bonnie to figure out a spell and lend some magic. Give me a GPS and an anonmous tip and I'm on my merry way.

I want to make Elena moan under me, I want her fingers to curl in my skin and her hot little tongue to trace patterns on my neck. I'd make that girl speak tongues and then she'd run sobbing off to Stefan with 'sorry' on her lips and 'ultimate betrayal' scribbled all over her face for the rest of time. So god no, hell no, whatever - just no. I can't afford to get caught up in this letter, in these words, because hope is something I shut out a long time ago.

I throw her letter in the trash. Out of sight, out of mind.

Except she's in my mind, all the damn time, and she's never really not with me.

xXx

"Wakey, wakey," Stefan's sprawled out on his bed, shirtless, looking ten different kinds of drunk. I shake his shoulder lightly, "C'mon Stef, it's a new day."

Judging by the liquor bottles all over his floor and the ripped pages from his journal, Stefan hasn't been holding up so well since we all last talked. Today is the day we hit the open road to rescue Elena. This is Stefan, we're talking about, he should be rearing and ready to go. He should have his 28oz container of hair gel all packed in a Gucci bag, with a picture of Elena on the outside of the damn thing.

"She doesn't love me, Damon." Stefan groans and opens his eyes up in tiny, painful slits. Ah yes, my baby bro is finally getting a taste of what it's like to be the third point of the triangle. Who would have thought this day would come? And who would have thought I'd _actually _ miss my old place?

Because everything in Elena's letter was bullshit and I'm calling serious bluffing. Yeah, there was some sweetly worded phrases and promises of forever but I made it pretty damn clear I was done, over, _through_ with all of the Elena-related romance. Somebody hates me _big _time because the irony of the situation is killing me. I'm in love with Elena, deep shit buy-you-ice-cream-at-2am-just-because-you-crave-it love. But I don't do letters anymore, or phone calls, or pining gazes. Nope, I'm a changed man..vampire. Whatever.

"'Course she does," I say cheerfully, because seriously, Elena is a sucker for my flower child of a brother, "Maybe she's a little freaked out by your need for blood, or maybe it's the way your hair keeps growing skywards at an alarming rate, but she'll come back to you." I rip open his dresser drawers and throw him a plaid shirt.

Stefan yanks it on like every movement is complete pain, and been there, done that, bro, so I can't say I'm surprised he's acting this way. He slides off the bed and teeters by his bedposts, looking uncertain.

I think he drooled in his sleep. There's a tiny drop on his lip.

"Give me a sign of life!" I poke his arm and stand back to watch what happens.

He blinks once, twice.

Hallelujah he is risen.

"Bonnie found a witch she can channel her power through. We can cast the locator spell, the plan's all in place, we just need your attendance. It's mandatory."

"She said things in that letter, Damon," Stefan shakes his head like he can't believe Elena's loyalty has wavered, and all I can think is no freakin' way, Steffie, that's _gotta _have crossed your mind once or twice.

"Still doesn't mean you can't come save her." I waggle my eyebrows at him and open the door to his bedroom. I'm this close to dragging him down the damn staircase if I have to. Times ticking, which means Elena could be in serious problematic problems. "Get your shit together, c'mon," I jerk my head towards the door and Stefan trudges forward like a sad, beaten puppy.

I stick my lower lip out as he passes. D'awww, what did Elena say in that letter? '_I'm sorry Stefan, but I have to go fuck with Damon's mind right now, and prance off with Klaus! Which means you and I need to lie low for about five minutes! xoxo - Elena_.'

No seriously, I can see her writing that, complete with one of those annoying spangely pink pens and cut-out felt hearts.

But I miss her, I miss her like hell, I'd do anything to get her back. It's pathetic, really, but I'm desperate to get back to the grind. The unresolved sexual tension, the banter, I'd take fifty years worth of the silent treatment for this girl. Just to have her back. Which I intend on making that happen. With or without Stefan.

I shut the door to Stefan's bedroom and make my way downstairs. Stefan & the Free Will Brigade are all downstairs chewing on the inside of their mouths, fiddling with their hands, running fingers through their hair - all because of Elena. I really hate this girl sometimes, the shit she puts us through is like no other. I had a diva girlfriend once in the 70's...except _ I _put _her _ through the emotional rollercoaster. Not the other way around, like present day. Twenty-first century really _sucks._

I round the corner to see Caroline, Jeremy, Bonnie and Stefan all sitting primly around the coffee table, a strange pendant in the fruit bowl. Bonnie is eyeing the thing like it may explode, so I'm guessing it's something of Esther's. Stefan sits there still looking drunk, wasted and rejected. Get over it, Stef, it's always gonna be you.

"Fine day for casting a spell, is it not?" I punk down opposite Witchy Witch and watch as she shakes her head.

"How can you joke at a time like this?"

"How can I _not _ joke at a time like this?" I quirk an eyebrow and send her a fuck-me smile. She makes a sound roughly like coughing up a furball.

"I'm going to cast the spell now." Bonnie looks around us very seriously. Ooh. I feel like popping popcorn because this girl seems to be on permanent lights, camera, action mode. I know what _I'd _write in a letter to her: 'Take a break from the heavy eyeliner and the double meanings. Here's a tissue for your nosebleeds.' Okay, little harsh, but I have never seen a witch that fucking bleeds out of her nose when she's worn down. The _hell _ is that?

Two minutes of awkward witchy juju later, we've nailed the location: little warehouse three hours drive away. I fucking hate warehouses. The last time I was in one...well...let's just say shit didn't go down the way it was supposed to. In fact, I ended up with my face planted in the cement while my former best friend went all psycho alter-ego on me. I swear he was going to strangle me with my own intestines.

RIc made for a _very _ tasteless villain.

"So who's going to drive us all down to this warehouse?" Caroline pipes up, and her little princess peepers land right on me. "Damon? You've got a nice ride."

Well. My car _does _seem to be reserved for deep, emotional roadtrips such as this one is promising to be. I nod my consent. "Stefan, Bonnie, let's go."

"Wait - what?" Caroline screeches and I wince.

"Look, Stefan and Bonnie are the most sensible, they'll keep their heads on. Who knows what you'll do when you see Klaus." It's true, I see them, I know bedroom eyes because I throw Elena them_all _the time. Klaus and Caroline have something serious going on that anybody with even one functioning eyeball could see. Granted, it's mostly Klaus being a creep, a massive, creepy, creep, but who the hell cares? Caroline doesn't seem to mind his company like she should. And that makes for one very awkward confrontation.

"I'll stake him myself!"

"You won't!"

"I will!"

"Won't!"

"Will!"

"Stop!" Bonnie throws her hands up and oops, we both go flying back and hitting the walls. I groan. I need a day out to have a drink or something, with Katherine, the only one who seems to think like I do on these matters. But Katherine's still down in that stupid dungeon. _Damn._

"We're all going." Bonnie says sternly. Well _sheesh _, just because she's the witch doesn't mean she gets to call all the shots. No way in hell am I going to spend three hours with all four of these people in my car. I'd rather throw myself out the car window and _run _to the warehouse instead. Because all that car trip is going to be is Stefan's mind thinking so loud I'll be able to hear it, Caroline giving pep talks, Jeremy complaining he has to pee, and Bonnie silently judging everyone in the background.

Sounds very novel, very fresh, but not when we're trying to save Elena from a slow and tragic death.

As usual, I get no say in the matter. No amount of sarcastic comments can keep Bonnie from shoving herself in my car with Caroline, Jeremy and Stefan to boot. The only good thing I can say about this road trip is that at least none of us packed anything at all. Not even baby Gilbert or pack-rat Salvatore. Praise be to Jesus we don't have any of Stefan's crazy journals flying around in this car. His entire 60's saga is NC-17 and _not _ for Jeremy's ears during his bed-time read-alouds. Trust me on this, I've debated dropping them off at Elena's house anonymously in my darker days.

xXx

We pull up to the warehouse about thirty minutes behind crunch time because Jeremy, being a human and all, had to use the restroom. I was all for kicking him out someplace in the woods and letting him rough it back home, but no, _Elena _ would need Jeremy more then she would need any of us. Beg to fucking differ by the words written in my letter, but hey, I'm not going to start a fight right now.

"So, Bonnie," We're all walking casually towards the big, gray building with 'Jerick's 24-hour Storage!' written in big, bold letters like the fucking team of Avengers and I have to break this ridiculously tense and epic silence, "Are we just going to waltz in here, see Esther's coffin, waltz out?"

"It's disguised, Damon, no way would 'Jerick' let someone store a coffin in here." Caroline rolls her eyes like she's straight out of Mean Girls. Yet another show I was forced to watch while dating that soap opera on legs. She should come with a warning label: Addicted to Chick Flicks.

"I was talking to Bonnie!" I snap. I'm feeling a little tense. God knows what's behind those doors. A dead Elena, a big, black coffin, a scrawled note in Klaus's perfect cursive about how we never should have gotten messed up with him? Well duh, if I had the choice I would have booked it straight to Tahiti before I'd ever even _heard _ the name 'Klaus' or the word 'Doppleganger.'

We lapse into a silence as Stefan twists the lock on the door and pushes his way in.

Deep breaths, Damon, don't lose your shit.

-It's an empty, giant, gray room. Echo-y, spacious, pretty wide-open.

Save for the one, black coffin in the middle of the room.

And no Elena, no Klaus, not even Rebekah.

Life's a real bitch that way.

xXx

**Let this author know how she did! **


	12. Escape

**Alright! Chapter 12! Thank you all for the fantastic reviews, keep em comin! :) **

**I hope you're at least a *little* impressed with Elena. If not, sorry. I hope you will be later then! It's all about Elena convincing Damon. Get ready for a VERY emotional talk next chapter between our favorite couple. I know we only have three more chapters to go, and I'm going to try to work a little smut in there for a treat ;)**

**How would you like that?**

**xXx **

**"It's you, it's you, it's all for you, everything that I do...**

**I tell you all the time, heaven is a place on Earth with you.."**

**~ Video Games **

**xXx**

Murmuring voices. Darkness. Leather seats. I shift in the back of the car and wince. Every movement is pain. I need blood. I needed blood yesterday.

"Careful, you have vervain in you." Klaus's voice from the front seat warns me, and I open my eyes in tiny slits.

Trees are zooming past me on the open road, it's light out. It's light out and the sun rays laying across my legs aren't burning me. They should be? I tilt my head, eerily calm, why _aren't _they?

Oh, Katherine's necklace. My fingers graze against the pendant.

"Where are we going?"

"To pick up some...luggage of mine." I see Klaus make eye contact with Rebekah, who looks away, staring out into the window. She looks like she's wants to be anywhere but here, and who could blame her, really?

"Then where to?" I cock my head at the time. It's 4:56 pm. Shouldn't we be on a plane by now?

I sink back down in the seat. Relieved. Thank god we aren't on a plane, because after having most of my blood sucked from me, I've changed my tune. I'm getting away from here. I don't know how, and I'm not sure I can ever return back home, but I am getting the _hell_ away from here.

"We had a brief change of plans. Rebekah keeps talking about how she doesn't fancy Brazil so I thought why not New York? Great city, great company, you'll love it there." Klaus catches my eyes and holds them as he talks, "We'll get a penthouse, we'll go to anything your heart desires."

Anything my heart desires? Then turn this car around and drive me home. To Damon.

I could open the door to this car and survive the fall out unscratched, I could do it, and I'm considering it.

But Klaus takes a sudden left onto a gravelly road - no, _parking lot ,_ and throws the car into park.

We're in front of a warehouse. A big, giant, gray warehouse owned by some hillbilly named Jerick. I rub my arms through my sleeves because I'm feeling cold, and the affects of the vervain are making my legs wobbly.

Klaus is at my side in an instant, door open, eyes boring into mine.

"You won't leave my side."

The words fly around in my head until they're all I can hear, and I slip shakily out of the car, falling into his grasp as he holds me up. He frowns, obviously annoyed I can't walk myself, but who's fault is that? I sure as hell didn't inject myself with vervain.

"The effects of the vervain have worn off, you feel fine."

More loud phrases bouncing around in my head, pain squeezing my temples as my mind adjusts to what it must believe. I gasp, and then my legs straighten from under me, and I take a step forward before my body physically reminds itself I have to stay by Klaus's side.

I toddle back to him like he's my savior and I hate it, I hate the grin on his face, I hate the look Rebekah gives me.

I hate being a puppet, mostly.

We walk towards the warehouse door together and I step back, allowing Klaus to push the door open.

I'm not prepared for what I see waiting in there.

There's an empty black coffin the middle of the large, concrete room.

But that's not what I'm looking at.

I'm looking at Bonnie, Jeremy, Damon, Stefan and Caroline all standing on the oppsite side, looking like they just walked in through the other door. Their car must have come in through the south parking lot or something because I would have _noticed _ if they were here.. My emotions run at me like a freight train and I stumble forward in a pure need to just move, to make some sort of noise to voice what I'm feeling, but I hit an invisible wall that brings me right back to Klaus. God. Damn. Compulsion.

"Elena!" They all say my name and I can only weakly nod back.

Yeah, guys, it's me. It's Elena.

-And there's a pair of ice blue eyes on mine.

_If we ever meet again..._

"Damon!" I scream and stumble towards the group, my body turning around to face Klaus.

This is more than frustrating. This is torture. Pure and simple torture.

"Well, well, well," Klaus shakes his head and his heart beat elevates just a tad, he's more nervous then he's letting on, "You all decided to show up, huh?"

"Let her go, Klaus," Stefan takes a step forward and I want to yell at him to get back._ You don't know what Klaus is capable of. _

"Never," Klaus grins, "I only just got her!"

Rebekah rolls her eyes and I get the sense she's been through this dance a lot with Klaus.

"C'mon Klaus, you can still stop in from time to time to grab your pint of poison." Damon swaggers up to Stefan, all beautiful confidence, and I try to find his eyes again. Except he doesn't have eyes for me, they're for Klaus.

"Sorry but we just came to get the coffin, boys," Rebekah steps up so she's nearly brushing against Stefan's chest, eye-to-eye, her hand grazing the tops of the black vessel her mother lies in, "Any problem with that you'll have to call us about later."

The tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife. We stand looking at eachother for what seems like forever and my foot keeps knocking against the force field of my compulsion.

_Just let me go._

Damon says something sarcastic that goes right through me and the room bursts into a flurry of activity. Klaus catches my eye right before lunging for Damon, whirling into a ball of hissing and scraping. Rebekah goes for Stefan while Caroline races to aid him and Bonnie seems to be desperately trying to conjure something while holding Jeremy back.

And me? I'm dragged right along with Klaus. _Stay by my side _, he said, and so I did. I'm caught inbetween the fray of hands clutching everywhere, Damon's fingers quickly interlacing with mine and giving me a good tug while Klaus grabbles for my chin, trying to find my eyes, to compel me to do something else.

I hear Jeremy call my name and it's all so damned confusing and painful I don't know where to go or what to do. I lash out and kick, meeting shin, and then I find an arm and bite home. Klaus growls in frustration and I feel his hand go into my gut. He's got his hand wrapped around in my insides and it's so painful little dots of red are dancing in my vision.

Damon bowls into Klaus again, his hand sucking out of me and making a painful, popping noise. I stumble forward with him, hitting the ground and rolling over, just in time to see Klaus with his hands around Damon's neck.

He's going to snap his neck.

"Elena!" Damon's voice is hard like granite warning me not to try anything. But since when did I ever start listening to him? What I do next doesn't even require thinking, just pure vampire grace. I leap off the ground and into Damon's chest, pummeling him away from Klaus and sending us crashing into the wall on the other side of the room.

_Away_ from Klaus. It takes a moment, but my hands are gripping tight into Damon's black shirt, his eyes are meeting mine, wide and confused. Klaus is on the other side of the room and I vaguely hear Rebekah throw Caroline off of her like a yowling cat to stare.

I'm not by Klaus's side, I'm on top of Damon, and I don't feel pain, or an uncanny desire to return to my captor, I feel free. Feather light. My mind isn't fogged down, my limbs aren't moving like a puppeteer anymore.

"You..." Klaus shakes his head and I see a momentary flash of panic cover his face. He's doubting himself, unsure, and as much as I hate him, I can't help but feel sorry for him.

I, Elena Gilbert, broke his compulsion.

For Damon.

They say actions speak louder then words, and I'm still sprawled on top of Damon, meeting his wide, blue eyes with my own, shocked brown ones.

I'm thinking crazy thoughts like maybe we'll kiss and Klaus won't kill us all for this act of betrayal and maybe we can go home, but Damon's arms snake around my waist and he pulls me gently off him, standing up to face Klaus. "You know you should just really quit while you're ahead." He smirks at Klaus, "It's obvious Elena is above your little mind tricks." His eyes meet mine for a brief seconds but it's enough. He's amazed. In awe, maybe. Well, make that two of us.

Klaus looks like he wants to burn the whole place down. He begins walking forward across the room and I immediately scrabble up from the floor to stand in front of Damon, except Klaus stops when he nears his mother's coffin, splaying a hand along the dark wood and tracing lazy patterns.

"I'm going to take Elena, and I'm going to take this coffin." It doesn't sound like he's too confident about it.

"One or the other, Klaus." Stefan takes a step forward, hands characteristically in his jean pockets. I see Bonnie inching behind him.

It hits me then. She's going to try something. Something big. The way her eyebrows come to meet above her flashing green eyes is enough to tell me Bonnie has something planned. Stefan is just a distraction.

"We're taking both, Stef," Rebekah strides up to where her brother is and for once I get it. I get the bond. I understand why they're doing what they're doing. Why Rebekah is doing this for Klaus. Facing a forever alone must be _terrifying_.

Stefan swallows and cocks his head, adopting his own swagger. _This _is the Stefan I loved. The confident Stefan. The care free Stefan. Seeing him now almost makes my heart ache, but I can hear the pulsing of _someone else's _ heart behind me, the smell of his cologne, the faint remaining traces of B positive blood lingering in the air.

"I had Elena, and not one of you showing up for tea is going to change that." Klaus kicks the coffin in fury, his voice echoing off the walls. I cringe. _Hurry up, Bonnie._

Just like clockwork Rebekah falls to the ground with a horrible, keening sound, holding her head and wailing. Klaus shouts her name and oh god, I almost feel bad, because the look on his face surpasses pain. It's devastating. And then it's wiped off as he too goes down on the ground, thrashing and twisting. The vein in his temple is throbbing wildly and I bite my lip, wondering if Bonnie is going to try to undo them.

Someone roughly grabs my arm and begins dragging me to the door. I shout Bonnie's name but it's too late, cold, fresh air hits me as the sound of gravel is crunching in my ears. I kick wildly at the force holding my arm and catch a glimpse of bouncing blonde curls before being pushed into another car.

Damon is shoving Stefan out of the front seat and commanding he goes back to stay with me and Caroline is dragging Jeremy into the car. I don't see or smell Bonnie and I'm still weak from lack of blood -

Which, as horrific as it is, I can smell all over Jeremy. Tantalizing, face-changing-into-spidery-veins, _blood_. He's in the front seat and my eyes are attached to his neck, momentarily forgetting about Bonnie.

"Open the window," I choke out to no one in particular, "Jeremy's blood..."

Just hearing it on my tongue...

No one reacts, they only all look at me concernedly with furrowed brows.

"Open the damn window!" I pound my fist into the leather mat and it kick-starts Caroline into action. She presses down on the button smoothly.

I gulp in the air and fall back into Stefan's arms, trying to ignore the faintest trace of blood that still hangs in the air. It's Jeremy, we're talking about, I'm not _that _sick.

"Where's Bonnie?"

Silence.

"Dammit, where's Bonnie? You guys can't just rescue me because -" I'm prepared to give them the whole five miles and a list of exact reasons why they should have_ never _ come, no matter how grateful I am, when Damon's voice barks at me.

"Shut up, Elena! The least you can do is make sure Bonnie's life isn't wasted by your senseless, needy whining!" He swerves abruptly onto a dark road and he's going about ninety-five.

This wasn't how I was expecting seeing them again. I figured I'd meet Damon one-hundred years from now in a space bar and we'd make passionate love or some ...shit...like that, but no. Not two days after I try to be the hero he's screaming at me and Bonnie may very well be _ dead_.

It's too much. The feel of Stefan's arms are me are too much. I push them away violently. Didn't he get my letter?

Judging by the glances exchanged between Damon and Stefan, he did.

"Where are we going?" Caroline asks softly, so softly, so unlike her to be so subdued.

"I don't fucking know." Damon replies quickly, "But we aren't going home. That's the first place Klaus would look."

"Agreed." Stefan nods, ever the sage and wise.

"We shouldn't have left Bonnie." My voice cracks and I slide back into the seats, covering my face in my hands, "My god, I'm stupid. I'm so stupid, I'm so sorry..."

I'm not sure what I was expecting. Previous times when I've had crisis's like this Damon always tells me how beautiful and strong I was. Maybe I was expecting those words to come out of his mouth. If not Damon's, then Stefan's, if not Stefan's, then Caroline's...and if not Caroline's, then Jeremy's.

I just never expected Damon to reply so tightly: "Yes, you are, and yes, you should be."

We ride on in silence.

**xXx**

**Tell me what you think! Review!**


	13. Back So Soon?

**Hello Lovlies! I can't believe we only have 2 more chapters to go! But don't worry, if you miss my writing, I'll have another story up shortly. :) It's AU, which means we don't have Vampire!Damon or Vampire!Elena, but it's sure to be interesting! :) So I hope you'll check that out. I'll preview the summary for you guys on my last chapter for this one!**

**This is not the smut I promised. There is some smut, but not enough smut to make it smutty. I'm confusing myself. Anywho, did I mention my new story will earn an 'M' rating? Scandalous much? **

**Enjoy! **

**"It's been a while since she spoke to you, and she passed some words, but then you passed a fire." **

** Memories flooding back into that part you wanna forget.**

**And you wanna kill, oh you wanna kill."**

**~ Serenade/TheNaked&Famous **

**xXx**

****We've been holed up in a little piece of 'armpit civilization' just off of the main highway biting our nails like worried vole rats. I'm pretty sure someone should stop Caroline before she realizes what a mess she's making of her _flawless _manicure.

Stefan sits on one bed whispering to Jeremy 'Bonnie this, Bonnie that' style. Everyone seems pretty damn shaken up by the loss of our confidant, and I'll admit, it hasn't dawned on me yet.

It's silent and stupid in here and I need some air before I light a match and set this place on fire. With me in it.

Outside is much better because outside I can plan. There's towering trees and a musty smell closer to the kind you'd sniff fifty years ago. I'm not worried about Klaus the Psychotic Hybrid to pop out of _these _ trees because it's anti-climatic. Our villain _loves_ a good entrance. Seriously, if I was in a junky back alley way with a piece of garbage rolling in the wind, just out there for Klaus to kill, he wouldn't. It wouldn't be 'epic' enough. Just my luck that Martyr #2 (the first spot being taken by our admirable Bonnie Bennett) should pop up from behind the trees all sniffly nosed and watery eyed. Elena is up there on the list of people I'm trying hard to avoid.

"Elena." I'm not gonna pretend like I'm throwing up rainbows about her appearance. I have half the mind to escort her back into the trees. 'Follow the north star, Elena! And don't _ever _come back!'

Elena stands there looking ten kinds of hot and even now I'm getting a boner just looking at her. God, what is wrong with me? The girl has snot coming down her noise and she's _ still _making me ache.

"Well? You going to stand there and sniffle forever?" She would, too, she totally would.

Shit. Fuck. Hell. Her little body comes crashing into mine, her fingers tangling in my hair and her pelvis presses not-so-innocently into my own. I know what I'm supposed to do: push her away, act disgusted, put my hands on my hips and swagger away a free man. But I've never done the right thing when it comes to women - sure as hell not gonna start now.

My hands wrap around her lower back and I dip my head into her hair. It smells like a horrible motel room and Klaus's cologne but I don't give a single flying fuck. It's _Elena_.

I don't mean to get all crappy kiss-kiss romantic but there are moments that define us. And sad as it is to say, I think holding Elena like this out in the middle of a godforsaken forest right after her best friend sacrificed her life is something I'll carry around with me forever.

"I can't not be with you, Damon." she sniffs and her nose presses into my collarbone. Holy shit, Elena Gilbert is breathing me in. I fight the urge to encourage her.

"You'll say the same thing about Stefan soon enough." I say grimly. I should push her away. Yep, Damon, anytime now. But I don't, my left hand threads in her hair and I tip her chin up, exposing that smooth neck, those lips..

Elena shivers and closes her eyes and here it comes - the 'I'm-sorry-I-wasn't-thinking-straight-speech' and then I'll retort with a 'Well-you-really-suck-sometimes' retort and we'll both pretend to not be hurt-

"I love you."

-and then Stefan will, wait, _what? _

"I love you." Elena says it again, curling her fingertips in my jacket, looking at me with _very _earnest looking doe eyes.

And did I ever mention how close her lips are to mine? Too close. But do I care? No, not at all.

"Say something." Elena pleads.

Oh, have I been silent this whole time? My mind is screaming vulgar, horrible things at my heart right now. Stuff like "You jackass what are you doing?" and some _other _stuff not fit for her ears _or_ mine. "Elena..."

"Mhm?"

"Do you mean it?"

"What?"

"Do you mean it?" I'd sooner believe pigs will fly then Elena actually loving me. "Because I threw your letter in the trash, and I killed your brother once, and I almost made you a vampire a while ago, and I-"

Look at me, listing all the reasons why she should go running for the hills.

And look at her, stoping me with a kiss.

I'm stunned into silence, and her warm lips keep pressing on me until I finally pull my shit together and react.

The kiss starts innocently enough, but then she let's out a breathy little whimper and suddenly I'm treading Yukon territory. I give her a slow, deep kiss and she keeps insistently nipping at my bottom lip until I finally bite on her- _hard_. And dammit if she doesn't like it a little rough, because she's saying stuff I've only ever heard in my dreams like "Damon, _please_," and when my lips trail down to her heavenly neck she's begging me to keep going. I comply.

She gasps and urges me on, and somehow I end up pressing her against a tree, my fingers slipping that annoying shrug off her shoulders and moving along the contours of her breast.

Of course just when things are getting interesting, Saint Elena pushes me off her.

"No, no, not now. Not out here. Not with Klaus at our door."

"Now or never Elena," That's a joke, I'd be down for doing this again anytime. I kiss her on her neck, her jaw, back onto her lips. Her eyelids flutter and she's _this _ close to cracking.

Of course she has a will of iron and self control up to _here_. Elena trails her fingers regretfully down my chest in a way that makes me hiss and then sighs.

"I don't deserve you." She mumbles, "But I want you."

Damn right. Testify! "I think I said something close to that a while ago, but ya know, you change your tune." I roll my eyes because clearly I still march to the same beat of the drum.

Elena nods and closes her eyes, leaning against the tree, "Klaus...Bonnie..." her voice cracks and I know, I get it, life sucks right now.

-its hard not to feel guilty about a little happiness.

"We'll take care of everything." I clasp my hands around her own and then release them, "Let's go back in."

Elena trails behind me mournfully and I resist the urge to ask her where the are coffins at - because it looks like she's going to a funeral - when I realize there are a _lot _of coffins on our hands. Life. Is. A. Bitch.

I'm also left wondering where these leaves our relationship, but clearly that's a conversation we're not having tonight.

I open the door to our stinky motel room and usher her in, everybody visibly perks up when she enters. Damn, I wish I could get that reaction.

Stefan pretends to be unaware of her flustered state and the way my jacket is all disheveled on my shoulders and in that moment, I freakin' love my brother, because if I was in his position I would have thrown a very diva-like tantrum.

"Glad you're back," Stefan supplies smoothly before Elena gives some crack-ass excuse, "We were just discussing -"

"We have got to go back to the warehouse." Caroline says solemnly, "To find Bonnie."

Cue the sad music because Caroline's eyes are getting shimmery. A tear is trailing down Jeremy's cheek. I do a quick once-over to make sure Stefan isn't secreting a violin in his back pocket.

"Thats ridiculously dangerous!" I scoff, and really, it is.

"Damon!" Elena pleads, and she wears that arent-you-my-bitch-? look we've all come to recognize. And sadly, today, I _am_ her bitch. No matter how bratty, irrational and just plain idiotic she's been lately.

"Her ghost hasn't come to me, there's still hope." Jeremy mumbles.

It comes out before I can keep it in, "Maybe she just wasn't that into you."

"Damon!" "Dick!" "C'mon!"

I shrug and roll my eyes at them all. Okay, so that was a little mean. Not like I'm going to admit it.

"So it's decided. Some of us will stay here and some of us will go to check." Stefan nods safely. Ah, Stef, ever the wiseman.

Everybody opens their mouth to volunteer - including myself, sadly - when a sharp, curt knock sounds on the door.

"Open up!" an annoyingly British accent with just a hint of sadistic menace and old age sounds through the mushroom fungi that serves as a damp motel room door. Jesus Christ.

He's gone and done it again.

Klaus has found us.

He doesn't wait for one of us to shout 'Come in!' and I doubt any of us would have, anyway. Nope, Klaus just jiggles the lock and pops open the door, Sexy Bex trailing in after him.

"Want your witch back?" Klaus raises his eyebrows like he's having a great time talking about our dead witch. Woo-hoo. Bring out the cake and candles.

"Yes, Klaus, we do." Stefan pipes up bravely.

"And I want my doppelvamp back." Klaus smiles at us evilly and his eyes fall on Elena. Color me officially pissed off.

"Can't have me." Elena states it like a fact, "I tried giving up but it wasn't nearly as freeing as I expected it to be."

Rebekah snorts. She must think Elena is ten kinds of crazy - hold on, _I _think Elena is ten kinds of crazy. We have more in common then I thought.

"So I suppose we can't trade?" Klaus frowns.

"Bonnie's alive?" Jeremy asks hopefully. I cringe. I can't tell you how many times I've asked the same question. The answer? No, no, no, with a side of salad and more _no's._

"Perfectly." Rebekah sneers. Wow. That line has to be the only line for her tonight. She looks pleased and smug and well, really sexy. I still hate her.

"Just shut up and leave the motel room please?" I snap irritably. Enough is a-fucking enough. No trade off, no more bad one-liners, no more thousand-year old British siblings invading our lives.

"Not until you hand over -" Klaus starts to snarl, and then Stefan, being the tart he is, starts saying: "Damon you can't -" and to top this delicious meeting off with whipped cream, Caroline begins making shrill squealing sounds I'm pretty sure are something a girl does that eternity will never help me figure out.

It's a ruckus of insults and the room is getting pretty damn heated when Elena shouts "Stop!"

The power this girl has over us all, I don't even know, but we all fall silent. Maybe it's because two out of the four males in this room are madly in love with her, maybe it's because one is her brother, two others want her for her blood, and the last is her best friend. My god, Elena gets around.

She crosses her arms and stares at us real good until I'm fighting the urge to shrink behind the 70's must-smelling couch to get away from those eyes.

"There's a way you can have my blood without taking me."

**xXx**

**Be awesome and review! :) I wanna try to make it 200 reviews by this chapter! YOU CAN DO THIS! **


	14. Dead Silence

**Short chapter! It's actually pretty dark, weird, and un-finished. I'm leaving this story at a semi-cliff hanger. Hey, ya never know, I may just start a sequel. ;) But anywho, THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE A DELENA EPILOGUE FILLED WITH FLUFFY HAPPINESS AND SMUT-LIKE SCENES! :D COMPLETELY FROM DAMON'S POV! **

**i KNOW you can't wait.**

**Also, to the reviewer who told me my last chapter was anti-climatic & the smut was not remotely close to smut at all...I told you, did I not, that I knew that wasn't smut? And might I add that, dear anon, that you can read all the smutty delena fics in the world. This one is rated 'T', and it's going to stay 'T'. Thanks!**

**xXx**

The room is dead silent.

"There's a way you can have my blood without taking me." I repeat it again for emphasis because nobody seems to understand. My eyes flit to Damon - it looks like he just suffered a stake through the stomach.

"Care to explain?" Klaus's smile comes off as too forced, too care-free. I frown at him.

"I'll give you all the blood you need, right here, right now, and you can come back for more when we need it." What Klaus doesn't know is my blood is useless. It's been useless this whole time.

_They're shoving me out of the doors, I'm screaming and kicking, I can see Bonnie's knees shaking, her whole being trembling. Life is pulsating out of her second by second. I screech her name, and her head turns, just a tad, and she mouths something to be._

_Her tears are tracing trails down her face and her knees are buckling out from under her - but her mouth moves._

_'Useless.'_

_Somehow I knew she wasn't talking about the situation. Bonnie was talking about me. My blood._

I hold onto the fragile hope that maybe if Klaus went away with the blood, it'd buy us a few days. A few days to pull ourselves together and formulate a new plan. Build Bonnie's strength back up and see if the witches she's channeling will lend her their powers - for good. It's a small hope, but I have to try.

"You wouldn't give yourself away like that so easily." Klaus shakes his head in disbelief and Rebekah sneers at me. Crap with a capital 'C'. I forgot about her.

"You know what I think, Nik? I think she's bluffing. Elena wouldn't let hybrids run rampant. Something's wrong." Rebekah's red lips curl upwards and her hand floats down to her hip.

"Shit." Damon swears, kicking something, "Elena, really?"

"What?" I ask innocently, all wide-eyes. Okay, so that was about the worst plan I have ever tried to execute.

"Wait - hold on, hold on," Stefan holds out a hand, "What's going on?"

"Your blood is of no use to me, is it?" Klaus cocks his head and there's real hurt in his eyes. He's tired of running after me just like we're tired of running from him. There's a collective sigh in the room because this is a crossroad. We aren't getting Bonnie back. Klaus isn't getting anymore hybrids.

"That witch bitch never cast the spell?" Rebekah's eyes turn to ice, "I'm going to kill her."

"No! You aren't!" Jeremy speaks up for the first time, face tight, "You won't touch her."

"Says who?" Rebekah snarls at Jeremy, fists clenched.

"Bekah!" Klaus holds up a hand and pinches his brow, his serious contenenace breaking into a bitter laugh, "None of you are of any use to me anymore at all."

"So...we just get to...leave?" Damon's already got his hands around the door knob, eyes flitting back from Klaus to Stefan.

"If I could have a moment alone with Elena, please, as a parting sentiment, and then I'll have no problem leaving you alone for fifty years or so at all."

Dead silence, for the second time.

And then Jeremy starts shouting 'No!' while Damon keeps repeating a profane insult aimed at Klaus's hairdo, Caroline only pushing herself deeper into the dark crevice she'd been in since Klaus had arrived.

-Sometimes I have to be eternally grateful Stefan is around and alive. Because Stefan is the one who quiets the din and Stefan is the one who tells my friends that this is something we have to do. And I agree. I wholeheartedly agree.

"I'll talk to you, Klaus." My voice comes out as a drained little squeak, "Where do you want to go?"

"No, Elena, you can't -" Damon's hands are featherlight around my arm, his mouth turned into an ugly scowl. I break him off, pushing forward to meet Klaus chest-to-chest.

I'm sure it's quite the scene. A small girl like me, looking up to the big, bad, wolf. Klaus vs. Elena. Who wins, anyway? My mind is so tired and muddled, and it's been a while since I've last had blood (Jeremy being the constant reminder). My knees are shaking slightly and my eyes are pretty sunken in.

"Thank you," Klaus leans down to whisper in my ear, his breath doesn't smell like something morbid; blood, guts, gore, despair. It smells like mints. Huh. I must be going insane.

His fingers snake around my wrist and I hear Damon shout my name one last, desperate time. Sure, there are others that scream at me, but Damon's plea cuts right through me. Then I'm gone.

I stumble to the ground as my hands hit contact with hard ground. Klaus stands before me, looking slightly winded.

"I had to go a place where they wouldn't find us. What I have to say is for your ears only. I'll compel you to remain silent if I have to." Klaus bites the words viciously and I shakenly grip onto a tree for support, bringing myself up.

Just as my legs stabalize, Klaus has me backed up against it, his arms around my neck.

"You ruined my _ life _, Elena." He snarls at me and I feel my heart begin to pick up. Boom. Boom. Boom.

"No - I -" I grapple at his hands and all the while the only thing I can think is I _what_? I_ did _ ruin his life. As a human, my life was his obsession. As a vampire, it only makes sense that my imminent destruction would be his new one.

Klaus thrusts me aside so my face hits the ground. He doesn't look sorry at all. "I should kill you all but I won't, because you know what, Elena? I'm holding onto that slim chance that life as a vampire will be hell for you. In fact, I'm going to_ make_ it hell for you. For all your friends." He laughs mirthfully and I push myself off the ground.

"What do you mean?"

Klaus prowls up to me, looking for all the world like he's going to pounce, but stops just as our chests brush. "You will have to watch everywhere you go. You'll lie awake at night wondering where I am and how I'm going to hurt you. If I decide to take life, you'll watch me do it."

I swallow, unable to say anything.

"And you had better watch yourself with Damon, one wrong move, one attempt to avoid me, and your newest boy toy is gone."

The idea of no Damon is terrifying, and I find words. Amazing how fear can kick-start the tongue.

"Look, if you want me dead, do it now. I don't want to spend the rest of my life running from you."

Klaus grins.

"Game on, Elena." His thumb comes to brush my cheek, whisper-soft, before taking a few steps back. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get Bekah."

The leaves rustle and he's gone, I'm left alone in some woods I don't know, my heart hurting like hell. 'Game on, Elena.' How long until I would see Klaus next? Or any of the Originals? Twenty years? A hundred?

I try to race through the trees but end up faltering only seconds later, breathless. With Klaus gone, my adrenaline has faded, and my body is aching for blood. I need it badly. A million knives are stuck in my stomach and my throat is dryer than the Sahara desert.

Tripping through the leaves I blink back frustrated tears. Is this how life is going to be? Always watching my back? My friends' backs? A squirrel scurries across my path and I don't even care, if this is new to me, if drinking animal blood sounds repulsive, I scamper after it as fast as I can manage.

I've got it's neck between my fingers and I hear the crunch of bone as I hold the furry thing in my hands. More tears. The squirrel is just a fuzzy blur as I hold it needly to my lips. Oh, my god. I _am _a monster. Is that what Klaus meant? Vampire life being hell for me? Even as the knives fade away and my throat becomes lubricated with tofu-like blood, there's a crushing sense of guilt that comes with it.

I've only ever done the blood-bag route. This is my first kill. Yeah, sure, it's a squirrel - but I killed it.

Squirrel blood doesn't make me feel much in the strength department, at best I manage forty miles per hour, tops, but it breaks me out of the woods and onto a familiar road. The road that leads to the motel we were all camping out on. I can only pray that at least Klaus brought Bonnie back, safe.

Exactly five minutes later I push open our cabin door, looking like a truck driver and smelling like, well, animal blood, and collapse on the bed. I'm emotionally, physically, any-way-you-wanna-turn-it, exhausted.

Caroline is talking shrilly and Stefan is asking logical questions that I can't answer. Jeremy keeps patting my cheek, no doubt because I look like I'm about to turn all grey and crispy on them. I hear Bonnie's voice, and I feel a smile inside, even if it doesn't exactly come out on the outside.

And then there's Damon. Barking orders, slapping Jeremy's hands away from my face, replacing them with his own. His thumbs brushing my jawline, parting my lips.

"She drank squirrel blood." Stefan informs them, "You can get loopy if you don't pace yourself with animals."

Oh, is that why I feel this way? Or is it all combined with everything else in my life?

"You would know, brother." Damon teases him darkly.

"Elena, honey, don't sleep yet. You need to stay awake to answer one question." Bonnie's voice sounds somewhere off to my left, my eyes are shut tight. I will not open them.

"What did Klaus say?" Caroline whispers softly, so softly I might've missed it if I wasn't looking for it.

I could tell them he'll be back, and that he's pissed, and he wants us dead. That we all have to watch our backs from now on and eternity will not be kind to us at all. I could let them know that defeating Klaus won't really work because he'll always be there. He'll always want something from us, and I don't know how to avoid it. I could tell them I'm tired of fighting even though I know I'll keep doing it forever. But I don't. There will be time for that later.

So I simply murmur: "He left."

xXx

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	15. Happily Ever After

**Alright guys, this is the last chapter. I'm nervous about it. A lot. It's just really out there and to me, kinda crazy, but that's the way I decided to end it. Normally Delena stories don't end with this ending - so I thought, why not? (: **

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**xXx **

I smooth my button-down shirt with my hands and fidget outside the door almost nervously. I glare down at the piece of fabric Elena made me wear for our date. Our _first _date, I might add. It's a soft, white thing. 'I've never seen you in a nice white shirt before,' she'd told me, and that was that, pie was served, judge deliberated - I was wearing white.

It's been two weeks since Klaus "left" and there's been a silent agreement not to talk about it. Is that a good idea? Hell no. We should all be in my living room, sucking our thumbs and cradling back and forth while our eyes do nervous, twitchy things. It's what Stefan's doing, I'm sure, after Elena broke the news to him that what she wrote in his letter wasn't just a load of bull. I have to say, it was tough, I don't like seeing him like this - but I've waited long enough.

So maybe Klaus will come back, so what? We'll just drive him away again. I think. Well, I _hope. _

I pull my shit together and ring the doorbell, expecting Jeremy to open it and try to shoo me away like a fly or something, but instead, I hear Elena's window open from upstairs.

"Come up the window!" Her voice is all happy and chipper and I'm starting to feel really good about this date.

I'm climbing inside her window in an instant, once again patting my white shirt because wrinkles show so obviously in white. Wait, was it black? What about stains? Oh god, are there any stains on this John Varvados? Why am I thinking about this? It's so trivial and stupid. Jesus, for the first time in a _long _ time, I'm worried about a _date._

I feel Elena's soft hands wrap around my own and finally notice what she's wearing. It's a long dress, right above her ankles, while her feet are strapped in some pretty sexy heels. She looks beautiful, radiant, sexy, glowing, gorgeous - take your pick, they crossed my mind.

"Hi," she pecks me on the cheek, and that is the part I will never get used to, that's the part that'll keep me up at night. The simple gestures of affection this girl can do. "So where you taking me?"

Oh snap. I forgot about a location. God dammit, my first date with this girl and I forgot about a fucking location. I guess I kinda figured she'd cancel on me and I'd find her curled up with Stefan, both of them bawling and sobbing and talking about everlasting love and betrayal - but no, she didn't cancel, and we're actually going to do this.

"I - well," I shake my head. C'mon, _think _Salvatore. "We..."

Her face falls, "You didn't think ahead, did you?"

No, I got it. "We're going to your lake house. Cook dinner, makeout..." I trail off, "Well, you know the routine, don't you?"

Elena's face lights up for an instant until it falls again. "I only went there with Stefan."

Oh, I can totally see this: Stefan and her, both dressed all fancy schmancy, looking into eachother's eyes and babbling phrases like "No matter what.." and "I'll always be here.." Well, this time around, her d_ate _to the cottage won't be a Precious Moments film.

"Great, now you're going there with me."

She blushes and looks down, playing with the hem of her dress. "Damon, I have to ask you something,"

I open my mouth to say any number of suggestive, NC-17 things, but Elena rushes onward.

"-Will you teach me to feed? Sometime? It's so hard with Jeremy and I haven't had much guidance."

Wait, what was she talking about? I was too busy watching her slender ankle play footsie with her other slender ankle. It should be a crime to look cute when you're nervous.

"Damon?" She presses.

"Oh, yeah, sure." I think Elena was talking about food; and a teacher.

"Great," she breathes in relief and reaches over to get her clutch on the dresser, "Shall we go?"

Wow. This girl is like one big planner. No time for dilly-dallying or a quick makeout session. I'm not sure I like the punctual Elena.

So why not change it?

I reach forward and loop my arms around her small waist, tilting her chin up with my fingers and watching as her eyes widen. Damn, like an innocent deer in a trap.

"Can we be five minutes late?" I purr and look at her from hooded eyes, my left hand tracing all her curves.

"Da-" Elena sticks her lower lip out and I kiss her lightly. She sputters in shock.

"Eh-lay-na..." I sing her voice teasingly as my lips find her neck, kissing her.

I feel her back arch under my hands and all I can think of is getting her out of that dress. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice dress, I love a well-dressed lady any day of the week - but I'm thinking I'll like what's underneath it more.

Elena helps me out in that department, she easily slips half of it off her shoulders before hesitating. "Damon?"

"What?" My voice comes off as kind-of annoyed, which I am, because my lips are hovering above her collarbone and I'd really like to get on with it.

"This is right." She says finally, before releasing the rest of the dress and pressing into me to hid her body shyly.

Nu huh. I don't_ think _ so.

I try to push her out of my chest so I can get a look but she's strong, and she presses into my chest again.

"No, Damon, you won't like -"

"What?"

I've waited forever for this girl, and now she's gonna shoot me a bull-crap excuse like I won't _ like_ her? I won't like what I_ see_? "Elena, I like you, I like you in anything and I sure as hell will like you with nothing on."

Elena sighs, resigned, maybe, but still stays clinging to my chest. I kiss her neck, her ear, her jawline. I feel her tremble underneath me and it's heady, okay? It's like the best bourbon out there, maybe better, to know I'm having an _effect._

Her little hands ghost down my shirt and I let out a groan as they find the zipper to my pants. Elena bites her lip in innocent concentration and I let out a breathy laugh. Oh god, Stefan really kept it PG-13 with this one. "Elena," I smile, "What're you doing?"

Elena stands on her tip-toes to kiss me before gripping my left hand and guiding it to her lacy bra straps, "Here," she says, just as she unzips my zipper and begins to stroke me.

I make a pathetic little moan because that is the best thing I've ever felt, and hell, I'm going to return the favor. I ease her bra half-way off before finding my own hands down by her panties, playing with her hemline, stroking, back to playing, teasing her until her grip around me tightens and she begins to buck into my hands.

"Damon, don't be a tease." She says roughly.

"Serves you right," _For all the years you teased me. _ I squeeze my eyes and try to concentrate on not cumming in my pants like a twelve year old just because Elena isn't acting like a prim drip and she doesn't _ feel _like one either. Even so, my hands slip into her underwear and begin the _ real _teasing. Elena's making little whimpery sounds I wish I could burn onto a CD and play over and ov- okay, no, I'm not that creepy. But damn close.

I can feel myself getting close, and the way Elena is grinding her hips into mine, tugging me closer by my white collar until there's barely any breathing space, she's close, too. I can feel her breasts flush against my chest and I use my free hand to knead them.

"Damon, Damon, Damon,"

"Ssh," I whisper into her mouth, "Bed,"

Because this is not finished here. Seeing that we could bring eachother from the edge and back with just our hands, well, imagine what being inside her could do. I yank her hands out of my pants and catch my breath, pulling my other hand away from her center and resting them on her hips, pushing so we both fall back on that glorious mattress, closer than ever.

Her head falls into the crook of my neck as we resume our heavy petting.

I sigh into her hair.

Perfection.

xXx

"Vampire stamina rocks," Elena and I are laying curled up in her covers, forty-five minutes late for our date and I don't think we really give a damn. I could die happy right now. Keel right over with some random unknown illness, in fact.

"Yeah," Elena's chest is still heaving, "Wow."

"Wow?" I laugh, "That's all you have to say for me? Miss Gilbert?" I touch her nose lightly, because I can.

Elena laughs back, "Thank you, Mister Salvatore."

"For what?" I roll over on top of her and look right into those deep brown eyes, my hands tracing her sides. "For what?" I prod her, and she crinkles her nose.

"Not telling," Elena teases and I groan in exasperation.

" 'For giving me that mindblowing 'o' back there and for the opportunity to live an endless future of many more to come.' would suffice. Just sayin. " I grin cockily at her and watch as her eyes roll, but she finally relents with a laugh. It's _true_, though, I don't think my name's ever been said that fast in succession before. There have been some close calls, but Elena takes the cake.

"You know tomorrow we'll have to re-group at the boarding house, to see how Stef-" I cut myself off with a strangled sound. Just like that, all the happiness is sucked out of the room. I'm incredibly stupid. His name should _not _ be mentioned at a time like this. Stefan is officially deemed the Voldemort of my sex-life with Elena. Kicking myself, I glance over to gauge the damage, and I'm pleasantly surprised to see there is none.

Elena's hands are curled around the coverlets and she looks like she's earnestly listening, "How Stefan _what_?"

"How, Stefan's...doing. And... talk about.. Klaus."

Dammit, Damon.

"Oh," Elena pouts, "Right. I'm sure Stefan will be fine, and we can't worry about Klaus. We can't afford to."

"How so?" I thought we had plenty of time to worry about Klaus and a trust fund so big we could afford to right until the end of the world. As for Stefan, well, if I were him, I'd probably be having some cheap beer and sex right about now. But Stefan is the Almighty Saint, I'm sure he's taking it all in stride that will be really annoying later on, because I'm jealous of his temperance.

"If he comes back, he comes back. All we can do is try to be happy. Pick up the pieces." Elena shrugs, "I got Jeremy to worry about."

"Wise words," I say grudgingly. She's right, of course. There's nothing we can do except maybe move around and change locations every other month. Which for a vampire is pretty much the norm. I'm all for catching the next plane out of Mystic Falls, but I have a feeling Elena the Pacifist will want to take along the whole motley crew if we did. That just screams cockblock, right there, in big, red letters.

"Of course if we were to leave we'd have to take everyone along."

Am I right or am I right? Did Elena just say that? Wasn't I just thinking _that_?

"Hey, Elena, I got a joke for you," I turn to stare at her eyes and flare my own at her; she stares back, unsure, "What do you get when you put a Bonnie, a Caroline, a Stefan and a Jeremy in the same area as a Damon and a Elena?"

Oh, my God. She's actually thinking about this. Her eyes are fixed in concentration on some point behind me, and she's gnawing on her lip again. "Um..."

"No guilt-free sex!" I explode, "No love! No PDA!" My hands are doing crazy motions and Elena cracks up laughing. I feel her smooth legs run up against my own and I turn to hover over her, taking her wrists and positioning them above her still laughing face.

I press into her, reminding her I have a needy situation again, and she coyly presses back. I drop my chin just above her breasts and stare up at her.

"And we really like guilt-free stuff, don't we?" She rubs against me and I hiss.

"Totally."

"We're being selfish," Elena pouts.

"I don't care," I put my hand on the outside of her left breasts and start to move my head downward. Yeah, I really don't give a single flying fuck right now.

"You look like the cat who got the canary." Elena giggles.

"Meow meow," I tease her, and she rolls her hips against mine again.

_Purr, purr._

xXx

I proposed to Elena on August 25th, 2018. It was about time. A lot had changed since when we first got together - Stefan got off his bum and for once didn't turn to Ripperdom to solve his issues - he went to something else. _Katherine _. Yep, my baby brother ran off into the sunset with our darling Petrova. They call every now and then, it really sucks to be Elena when they answer. Katherine plays it up.

I didn't even mean to propose to her, I figured marriage was something outside of vampires. Hell, we lived for-ev-er. When you make a commitment like that as a human it's like, 'Hey, let's be together till we die!' and then as a vampire, well, sometimes you don't die for a while. Hundreds of years.

But there I was, running to Jared's like a sentimental little freak and picking up a white diamond. I even bought it instead of compelled it for myself. Went the whole nine yards.

'The lady must be very lucky,' the woman behind the counter with lipstick applied with a trowel had grinned at me maliciously.

'She is,' I winked at her because I was _still_ a flirtatious bastard.

The wedding was ridiculous. I was all for just grabbing some sea captain or judge and having him say the magic words, but no, Elena wanted a 'traditional' wedding. A church, a white dress, a cake, - everything.

"No blood," she'd stomped her foot, "No blood and we're gonna have human guests, too."

"Elena, everyone we know whose a human is asking us our anti-aging secrets. Seriously, enough drawing attention to ourselves." I had groaned.

"Which is why you have to stop telling them the secret is B positive blood!" Elena had hit me playfully on the arm and I had to fake a wince to make her feel better. What can I say? I loved her.

I didn't have a best man for the wedding. It upset Elena, but my first choice would have been Alaric, and never Stefan or Jeremy. Why? I can't imagine calling Stefan up and saying something along the lines as: 'Wanna be the best man to the guy who's marrying the girl you'd sell your soul for?' or 'Look, I've been banging your sister est. 2012, and I know you hate that, so be my best man for irony.' - I really didn't want to spend time coming up with creative, polite ways to say it.

Things worked out anyway. Caroline stomped her foot and threw a ten day long hissy fit, but she attended, as Elena's 'bride of honour' or something, and Bonnie never could stop hating me. I'm not sure if she came or not. I don't really think it matters. Stefan and Katherine made an appearance and it was awkward as hell but at least he tried. At least he came.

When the night was over we got in our SUV and started driving. Away from Mystic Falls, away from Elena's friends and alright, being the whipped man I am, I had to say I was a little sad to leave that boarding house, Ric's grave, Cockblocker Jr. (who took his job doubly seriously, but was now under the protection of Caroline) - things of that nature.

Elena had slipped her hand into mine and looked at me earnestly. God, she looked great in white. White underwear, white dresses, white pants, white shirts. Whatever. "We're going to live happily ever after." She said firmly, and her hand clenched mine. "Klaus or no Klaus."

I'm really not one for 'Happily Ever After's and it sounded pretty close to something she'd say to Stefan. I frowned, "Don't talk to me like I'm Stefan, Elena." Great. An hour or two after we're married and Stefan is already wedged between us.

"You're not Stefan, Damon." Elena said quietly, "Which is _why _we're going to live 'happily-"

"-ever after." I finished for her. "I get it." God, I hate when I get this way, allow that warm, fuzzy feeling to overtake me and my eyes to turn into twinkly stars. I don't really allow myself to hope, but hey, I have Elena, don't I? That must have taken a hell of a lot out of Jiminy Cricket.

We _were _going to live happily ever after; I was going to make damn sure of it. If Klaus were to show up out of the blue I'd go Jack Black on him, kick him in the balls or something and run like a lunatic in the opposite direction. Throw a burning bagel at him, even. _Anything._ 'Happily ever after.'

**xXx**

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